Fancy Clips (dressed up clothes pins)

Here is another little Christmas goody I have been working on.

They are clothes pins that I mod podged scrapbook paper on, added some embellishments and a strip of magnetic material on the back.

I cut pieces of card stock and added a little description on there to give as a gift. They make great Memo holders, Chip Clips, Bookmarks, or children's artwork holders.. there are 100's of uses...

You can't see it well but these have cute rhinestones!

The Smell of Christmas

I just love to have the house smell like Christmas... I whipped up some simmering potpourri yesterday for my house.  In the middle of the night last night it dawned on me that I could make these up as little Christmas gifts... 

Here is what is in each jar:

3 Slices of Orange

3 Slices of lime

3 Cinnamon Sticks

3 Bay Leaves

12 whole cloves

1 teaspoon of vanilla

enough water to fill the jar

If you didn't notice I am a multiples of 3's kinda girl... It's not rocket science so add whatever you would like. I attached a card with instructions to simmer

I even created you a label to use (minus my name). It is formatted to print on the perforated business cards or card stock for you to cut out, either one. I created it on the Avery website... Here is you aPDF file to download

Ta Dah...

Linking up to:

Skip to my Lou Made By You Monday

Happy Fall Y'all

I needed something to hang on the front door for fall...  I decided to make a burlap pumpkin.

First I took a piece of freezer paper and drew the shape of the pumpkin I wanted and cut it out.  I pinned it on a double layer of burlap so I would cut out both the front and the back piece at the same time, and cut out the burlap pumpkin.



I then took orange acrylic paint and watered it down to where it was just water consistency. I misted the burlap with  water so it would be easier to paint.  I wanted it to just stain the burlap.

I painted both sides. Don't for get to flip the second one over so the stem faces the opposite direction that way when you sew them together the outside is painted on both pieces of burlap.
I am very impatient when it comes to a project that I am excited about.  I messed up here by not letting the orange paint dry all the way before trying to stencil the letters on. So, when you make yours make sure you let the paint dry....
I cut a stencil of letters out of freezer paper.  Once the Orange paint is dry iron on the stencil.  The freezer paper will peel off once you paint the letters on. I stenciled the letters in brown acrylic paint.

Here is why you let the orange paint dry and DO NOT water down the brown paint or whatever you choose to do the letters in.

The top leg of the W in welcome bled because the orange was wet. So, that was a fail.. Never fear though, I have the other side of the pumpkin.  I decided to cut another freezer paper stencil.

I stenciled this one when it was dry and it worked beautifully.  I also decided to water down the rest of the brown paint and paint the stem. Because I am a southern girl... I decided to change the saying to Happy Fall Y'all!

Once the letters are dry (sorry no pictures of this step) I  pinned the wrong sides together so it all matched.  I also took about a 6 inch piece of jute and made a loop that I pinned in the top of the stem so it would be sewn in as a hanging loop.  I sewed all the way around but left about a 5 inch gap in the bottom where I stuffed it with poly-fil.  I just wanted enough to give it dimension, not to stuff it full.  I then went back and sewed up the bottom.  I added a little jute bow around the top of the stem. 

I think it turned out pretty well.

Linking Up To:

Made By You Monday - Skip to my Lou

Tip Junkie

Take a Look Tuesday - Sugarbeecrafts

Sew Cute Tuesday - creative itch

Smurf-Day (Birthday) Party

This Past Saturday we had a 6th Smurf-day party.  I wanted to share some of it with you. 

This was the cake.  It was made by Cakes by Mom and Me. They always do a beautiful job.  I believe in doing business with those that do business with you.  I embroider their logo on items and in turn I always let them make the birthday cakes...

Now let me tell you about the treats. My original idea came from My Paper Pony. I was supposed to use donut holes cut in half, dipped in red candy melt. Go look at the link above.. They are beautiful!  I am obviously not nearly as talented as the lady that did the marshmallow mushroom pops from this site.  I tried... I really did... but they were hideous! So I threw 40 of them away...  and I kicked myself for waiting until the last minute and at the time I had no backup plan.. 
Ahhh but Saturday morning before the party I came up with an idea.  Here is what I did. (note: they are not as beautiful as the donut hole ones but they worked)
I used the recipe on the back of the Rice Crispy box to make Rice Crispy treats.  I altered the recipe by adding red food coloring to the melted marshmallow mix.  I also used about a cup less rice crispys so they would be nice and red.  Here is how they turned out. I scooped them out using a cookie scoop and flattened them on the bottom by pressing them onto a piece of wax paper.  I allowed them to cool a bit and then pushed white chocolate chips in to make the dots on top(note: if you do this too soon they will melt).  I then pushed a jumbo marshmallow onto the lollipop stick and then added the rice crispy treat to the top.
 I bagged them and tied on a bow so the kids could take them home and the marshmallow bottom wouldn't dry out. 

I then put them in a tray with a Styrofoam insert covered in green moss.  I added some of Savannah's little Smurfs from McD's for a little extra touch ( you can't really see them in the picture)

 

Bucket of Burpies

I am so sorry I have been MIA the last month...  We started kindergarten, we have already had colds and a round of strep throat... and have been so busy it seems like there is something always going on.  I also feel like I have hit a creative dry spell.  I hope this project has broken the dry spell...  I am pretty excited!  There is a baby shower tomorrow that I needed a gift for.  I have already embroidered several other peoples gifts for the shower so I needed something a little different.  I made these burp cloths from Chenille and coordinating dot and striped fabric...

here is how I decided to present  the gift

It took 6 of the burp cloths to fill up the clear gallon sized paint bucket.  I hope they like it as much as I do!

Banana Bread

I know there are hundreds of thousands of banana bread recipes out there, but this is my favorite.  I have a bad habit of not eating all the bananas up that I buy.  This is mainly due to the fact that I will not eat a banana once it gets a brown spot on it.  It is totally a texture thing. So, once they have brown spots they go into banana bread or banana freeze(I will do a post with this recipe it is so good).

Banana Bread

3/4 Cup Butter
1 1/2 Cups of Sugar
4 Eggs
3 Cups of Flour
1 1/2 Teaspoons of salt
1 1/2 Teaspoons of baking Soda
4 Bananas
1 1/2 Teaspoons of Vanilla

Grease and Flour 2 loaf pans. Cream butter sugar and eggs.  In separate bowl combine the dry ingredients Flour, Soda, and salt mix well.  Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter sugar and eggs mixing well as you go.  Mash the bananas with the vanilla and fold into your batter. Pour batter evenly into your two loaf pans and Bake at 350 degrees for 45 - 60 minutes.  or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Hidden Treasure...

Can you see the Hidden Treasure in this picture?

Or this one (different angle)

One more try...

Ok... let me give you a little history and then I will reveal the treasure. 

My great aunt Dean will be 90 years old this week.  She has crocheted most of her life. I don't think there is any way to ever find out how many table cloths, afghans, doilies, etc... that she has crocheted over all those years. 

This is Aunt Dean in the center with her son and Daughter.  This was taken 2 weeks ago at our Family reunion.

Aunt Dean brought 3 garbage bags of yarn and thread to the reunion to give to my Mom.  She said that her hands no longer let her crochet and she thought that Momma might get some use out of it.  Much to our surprise found in those three bags were 3 smaller bags of crocheted flowers. 

What a treasure! Look at this it took me almost 2 hours to lay them all out on my table. (click the picture for a bigger view)

There are big ones and small ones and some chained together and some crocheted on rings

There are solid colored ones and some with two and three colors. 

There are some made with cotton thread.

some are made of yarn.

I can only imagine the countless hours Aunt Dean spent making all of these flowers.  I have been so in awe of all of them I have left them spread out on my table for a week.  Every time I walked by and stopped to look I found something I hadn't seen before.  They are just beautiful.  A real treasure.

Happy Birthday Aunt Dean.  Thank you sharing your treasure with us.



Blueberry Crumb Cake

I had several cups of left over blueberries that had been glaring at me every time I opened the refrigerator door. I think they were saying "Hey Lady do something with us before we go bad". I started hunting for a recipe and came up with the following after combining a few that I found in a couple of different cook books.  I had to combine different recipes because I seemed to be missing at least one ingredient from each separate one and I had already made up my mind that I was going to stay in my comfy clothes and not fix my hair or makeup all day.  So, I was not going to the store. 

This turned out so good.  I think that it is my new favorite blueberry recipe.

Blueberry Crumb Cake



Cake
5 Tablespoons of butter
3/4 Cup of granulated white sugar
1 Egg
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
2 Cups flour
2 and 1/4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup of milk
2 Cups of blueberries (washed and patted dry)

Crumb Topping
6 Tablespoons of butter
1/4 cup of granulated white sugar
1/4 cup of light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Combine the dry ingredients of the cake except sugar and set aside (Flour, Baking powder, Salt).  Cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the egg and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture.  Alternate adding the milk and flour and mixing well.  Gently fold in your blueberries.  Pour batter in your greased baking dish. 

Mix together your topping ingredients.  I used a pastry cutter to cut these together.  Make sure it is nice and crumbly.  You may even have to get your hands into it.  Sprinkle this mixture over the top of your cake. 
batter.   Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. 

I had to have the first piece while it was still warm it is sooooo good!  Add a little butter on top for a extra treat! I ate it for breakfast...  Eating something called "cake" for breakfast sounds bad but it  has made smile today...
~Sherry~

p.s. I am really excited about my next post.  I will give you a hint... It is a true treasure!

Old Fashioned Gumball Machine Candy Dish

Every July we have a family reunion.  At the family reunion we have a craft sale where everyone brings their handcrafted items and sells them.  All of the sales go to pay for next years reunion. We rent a camp with cabins, pool, pond, cafeteria and lodge for 2 days and provide all the food.   It is loads of fun.  So, my next few posts will be all about what I have made to take to the reunion to sell. 

Today I made these gumball machine candy dishes out of a 4 inch terracotta flower pot and the dish it sits in, a glass bowl from dollar tree and a wooden ball.  I painted the flower pot and dish and the wooden ball all red with spray paint, glued the glass bowl onto the flower pot and glued the wooden ball on the bottom of the dish. 

~Sherry~

Father's Day Gift Bag

Tonight with a plain white gift bag, some scrapbook paper, white card stock, buttons and glue I put together this Father's Day Gift bag.  If anyone is interested I can post measurements and instructions.(Download Pattern for Tie Here)

Linking Up to

Someday Crafts

~Sherry~

Playing with food

Saturday mornings are special at our house.  Savannah always asks for pancakes... I got creative one morning and made a Mickey mouse pancake.  It has progressed from Mickey Mouse to Minnie Mouse. The hair bow is bacon.

I give her a tablespoon of chocolate chips  since she doesn't eat syrup and she decorates it.

Well Mickey and Minnie have now evolved into Elmo and Cookie Monster.  Same regular ole pancake mix with food color added.

I didn't think that the Cookie Monster blue pancakes turned out very appetizing looking since it turns kind of brown... but she absolutely loved it...

I am not sure how I am going to top these or what other characters I can do....

Linking To:

Tip Junkie (Tip me Tuesday)
Someday Crafts
Local Fun For Kids

Rummage Sale Makeover items

I went to my church's Crownpoint mission trip rummage sale yesterday.  Here is what I came home with for $7..

A large Canvas, spice rack and two metal canisters. 

Here is what I did to that spice rack today. A coat of semi flat black spray paint, added black craft foam to the back. and Tah Dah.... A craft organizer!  I already started filling it up...

I've already painted one coat of Gesso on the canvas.  I am pretty sure that it is going to become subway art.  I will  show you when I get a little further along.

I really like this little guy.. What do you think?  Doesn't it have character?

Catch you later...

Sherry

Linking To:

Tip Junkie(Tip me Tuesday)

Someday Crafts

Homemade Vanilla Extract

I am so excited y'all!!!  I actually got started on making Christmas presents today.  One of my gifts this year is going to be homemade vanilla extract.  So, Aunt Peggy, Tatum, Momma, Susan...if you are reading this you can finish but please immediately forget that is is going to be one of your presents...

What you need:
Gallon Jar
100 whole Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans ( I purchased mine from Vanilla Products on eBay Click Here for Link)
1 gallon of vodka ( this is two of the 1.75 liter bottles)
Kitchen shears or very sharp knife

Have read almost 100 different articles on making vanilla at this time so I am going to share with you what I gathered from all that information and how I am making mine. 

Buying the vodka... Yes, I hauled into the liquor store to purchase a gallon of vodka.  I had already read all I could about the quality of vodka you should buy for this little project.  If you get to reading about making vanilla extract some articles will tell you that the cheap stuff is fine some will tell you to go with the more expensive.. I decided to go middle of the road with mine or should I say middle shelf.  Not the cheapest not the most expensive.  When I approached the lady at the checkout I decided that she needed to know that I was using all that vodka to make vanilla extract not to drink, so I proceeded in telling her.  She still gave me the "whatever you lush,  I don't care if you drink it all in the parking lot" look.. 

I got the following information about how many beans to use from Here. but my summary is below...

Vanilla extract is made by transferring the flavor and aromas of vanilla beans into alcohol (usually vodka, but sometimes brandy or rum). Vodka is the alcohol of choice because it has a neutral flavor. Other liquors can be used, but they contribute flavors of their own. Commercial extracts use a neutral flavored grain alcohol (vodka), but you are free to use rum, brandy, gin, whatever.

How many beans are used per unit of alcohol? This is an easy one - its regulated by US law. Really!
From the FDA 21CFR169:

Extract is 70 proof/35% alcohol.

Extract contains 13.35 oz. of bean per gallon of alcohol. It seems that 13.35 oz of bean need merely to be exposed to the alcohol, not that this amount of matter is extracted/dissolved into the alcohol, I await confirmation and will update accordingly.

Moisture content of beans should be under 25%, more beans are required when moisture is higher.
Remember, the quality of the beans doesn't matter for these regulated proportions, only the weight

In plain English:

"13.35 ounces of vanilla beans per gallon of extract is single fold (single strength) vanilla extract. As most vanilla beans are ~120/pound or 7.5 beans per ounce of weight. A gallon of extract is 128 fluid ounces, so that would mean ~98 beans per gallon or SIX (6) whole beans to make ONE cup (8 fluid ounces) of single fold vanilla extract...Anyone who tells you any differently is just teaching you how to make vanilla flavored booze." kieth - http://tipnut.com/homemade-vanilla-extract/
Take that point to heart! Recipes on the web are all over the place: some call for 1 bean in a gallon of brandy left for one year, others call for 2-4 beans per cup with 1-6 months soak time. Few come anywhere close to reaching the 'legal' requirements of an extract.
 
I counted out 100 beans from my 1lb that I ordered.  I then used my kitchen shears to split the beans in half leaving about 1 inch at the end uncut so the bean stays together. After they were split I placed them in the Jar.
Note: Bruce from Vanilla Products (Click here for link to Vanilla Products on Ebay) where I purchased the beans suggested cutting the beans into 1/2 inch pieces.  This is how the commercial makers of vanilla extract prepare their beans.

This was a bit time consuming but my fingers smelled really good when I was finished.  When All 100 beans were split and in the jar it was time to add the vodka..

The two bottles of vodka filled the Gallon Jar up right to the top.

I placed the lid on tightly and gave the jar a little shake. Then I placed it in the back of the pantry(you can put it anywhere cool and dark).  You need to shake it at least once every week or two and let it steep for 6 months!  If you hurry you can start yours and get it ready for Christmas too!!

Once the 6 months is up you need to strain the liquid in a coffee filter.  Bottle it up in pretty bottles with labels and give as gifts. I will update you once a month so you can see how it is going. 

Until next time....

Linking Up to:

Tip Junkie (Tip me Tuesday)
Someday Crafts (Whatever Goes Wednesday)
Fabric Bows and More (Will See it Wednesday)
The DIY Showoff
Skip to my lou (made by you monday)
Blue Cricket Design (Show and Tell)
Nothing But Country (Creative Creations Tuesday)

Etched Glass Cookie Jar

I did my first glass etching project today.  I hit a great sale at Hobby Lobby several weeks ago and bought these cookie Jars for half price.  They ended up costing me $6.  The Armour Etch is a little expensive at $8.50 for 3oz, but I used my 40% off Hobby Lobby coupon.  I imagine that this little bottle of Armour Etch will last me for a long time.

First, I made a stencil of the word cookies that I wanted to put on the jar.

I then applied a thick coat of Armour Etch

Waited 5 minutes. Washed off the Armour Etch and Peeled off the stencil. Drum Roll please........... TAH DAH

Hope you have a great week... I have lots of new stuff coming up so stay tuned!!!

Linking Up to

Tip Junkie (Tip me Tuesday)
Someday Crafts (Whatever goes Wednesday)
Fabric Bows and More (Will See it Wednesday)
The DIY Showoff
Skip to my Lou (Made by you Monday)
Blue Cricket Design (Show and Tell)
Nothing but Country (Creative Creations Tuesday)