Twig Wreath

Like my sister, I too am addicted to pinterest. I found this awesome wreath, but no tutorial. The link just sent me to google.com. So, I decided I would figure out how to do it on my own and this is what I got...

It only cost me $3.50 to make. I had most of the stuff I needed on hand.
First you need an old hanger, or in my case a hanger from our friendly dry cleaning place.
Then you need twigs. I cut them 6 1/2 to 8 inches long. We cut down a tree a few weeks ago so I had plenty of branches to work with.
Of corse you will need a hot glue gun, scrap fabric of your choice, and a sprig of small berries of your color choice.
I took the hanger and man handled it to make a circle, not a pretty one but it worked.

I tried gluing the twigs onto the hanger, but it wouldn't hold. Light bulb...I wrapped yarn around the hanger and glued it in place.

The twigs held on better and they are still on after a windy day. I placed a bowl in the center of the hanger as a guide so the opening in the center of the wreath would be a circle.

Then comes the flowers. I cut my fabric 1 inch thick and about 24 inches long. At the end of the fabric strips tie a knot.

Then I cut out circles the size of canning lids (I used them as my template).

Place hot glue in the center of the circle and put the knotted end of the fabric there. Then start going around in a circle with the fabric and glue.

Once the flowers were done I glued one ontop of the twigs and then a little bit of the berry sprig on either side. Then another flower and berries. Repeat until the circle is done. Ta Da... You have your wreath!

Try it out and let us know how yours looks.  Happy Fall!!!

Chicken Rolls

These aren't the best looking, but I totally forgot how good they were. Hope you enjoy!

6 oz. cream cheese
1-2 cooked chicken breasts shredded
4-5 mushrooms, sautéed in butter
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. melted butter
1-2 cans crescent rolls


Mix everything together, except crescent rolls. Place the chicken mixture on the wide edge of the crescent roll, and roll it up. I like to use two crescents at a time so it will stay square, and then fold it up. Place rolled crescents on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy. We like to eat ours with a salad or a veggie casserole of some sort.

Ruffle Curtains

I really love Anthropologie!  When the ruffle shower curtain came out, I about died. I saw a few tutorials on how to make cheap shower curtains. It got me thinking...wouldn't just plain color curtains look good in a little girls room? I had to try it. WARNING... This isn't something you can do in a day or two if you have children.
First I went to target while they where having a sale and bought a cheap pair of curtains in white, for the base of my project.
Next, I bought a queen size sheet in white (the same color as the curtain).
I went home and started measuring. I figured I could get 13 ruffles on each panel. Then I started cutting. I hope you have a rotary cutter, it's easier to work with. Then I hemmed one end of the long strip of fabric and the two small sides. *this was a lot of ironing and sewing*. Then I fixed my sewing machine to do the longest stitch it can do, and I also played with the tension and made it so the top was really loose. Sew the unhemmed side of each strip of fabric in a straight line Don't back stitch!!! Once that was all done you start the ruffle. Pull on the loose piece of thread, and start making the fabric ruffle.
I pulled out the curtain base and with a pencil I marked where each ruffle will go. I drew a straight line and pinned each ruffle piece of fabric to each line. (make sure you over lap the pieces of fabric so you don't see the ruffle sewn edge). Once you get all of the fabric pieces sewn on this is what it looks like...

I think in total I spent $25 for both panels.  Not too bad if I do say so myself!  I hope this helps you out. If you have questions about sewing these feel free to leave a comment.

Red Velvet Swirl Brownies

I just need to tell you how much I LOVE and am addicted to Pinterest! It has sooooo many good recipes that I don't know if I will ever have time to make them all. But, I did try one that was absolutely my FAVE!!

RED VELVET SWIRL BROWNIES

~ yields 16 squares using a 8" x 8" baking tray 

INGREDIENTS for brownie layer:

Unsalted Butter – 8 tbsp (1 stick) – melted

Sugar – 1 cup

Vanilla Extract – 2 tsp

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – 1/2 cup

Pinch of salt

Red Food Coloring – 1 tbsp

Vinegar 1 tsp

Eggs – 2

All Purpose Flour – 3/4 cup

Cream Cheese Layer:

Cream Cheese – 8 ounces (softened)

Sugar – 1/4 cup

Egg – 1

Vanilla Extract – 1/2 tsp

DIRECTIONS for Brownie Layer: 
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking tray.

2. Mix together butter, sugar and vanilla

3.Then add vinegar, food coloring and eggs

4. Last, add all dry ingredients and pour the batter into greased baking tray.

Directions for cream cheese layer:

1. In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients

2. Pour over the brownie batter in the tray in stripes, or you can drop the cream cheese mix in by the tablespoonsful.

3. take a knife and swirl the brownie mix and cheese mix, being careful not to scrape the bottom of the pan.

4. place in 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes. Cool completely (if you can, as you can see I didn't wait) and ENJOY!!

Gadget of The Week

 Okay, I promise this will be my last post of today! 

I found a great use for my salad spinner other than just for getting the water off of my lettuce. We have been making popcorn today and my son was playing with my spinner (boys have such a fascination with things that go round and round) and a light bulb went off!! What if we put the popcorn in and added the butter and salt. We tried it and...IT WORKED!! The popcorn was evenly coated with butter and it also spun off some of the excess butter so it wasn't soggy! In my opinion, it was THE best way to make the perfectly 

buttered popcorn! :)

Halloween Is Coming!

I have been working on this craft for a while, and I am happy to report that I have FINALLY got it finished! I have seen a bunch of different Halloween trees but, this is the version of mine. 

You will need:

Sticks/branches

Black spray paint Matte Finish

Orange glitter

Purple lights (I used a strand of 100 lights found at Target for only $3.50)

Bucket or something cute to stand your tree in.

Rocks/gravel

1.  You will need to take your branches and make sure there are no leaves on them and make sure that the wood is dry before you paint.

2.  Start spraying your branches with spray paint, but before it dries, make sure you sprinkle with the glitter so it will stick. Let it dry for a day or so.

3.  Wrap the lights around the branches.  

4.  Take your cute bucket or container (I found mine at Target in the dollar item section, only it wasn't a dollar, it was $2.50) Okay, so here is where I got creative. The rocks weren't holding the branches up like I wanted them to, so, I found out that a roll of toilet paper fit perfectly in the bottom of my container, and I stuck the branches through the roll, THEN put the rocks in to balance. Worked like a charm!! :}

 I had my kiddos help me make some ornaments out of  left over toilet paper rolls or you could use a paper towel roll too. I just halved the rolls and covered with some construction paper and Modge Podge. Then used Halloween stickers or my imagination to come up with some interesting decorations. 

 Decorate however you like, just have fun with it!

Yummy Popcorn

Not everybody knows this, but besides October being National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it is also National POPCORN Month! I only know this because little "S" has a preschool teacher who LOVES popcorn! Her favorite popcorn treat is to take 2 kernels of popped popcorn and 1 M&M and pop them in your mouth and eat together. I must admit that it is REALLY good! 

I also found a recipe for some really yummy popcorn that has very quickly become my favorite!!

“L” Family Favorite Popcorn

10 cups popped popcorn

1 cup butter

¾ cup sugar

1 (3 ounce) package any fruit flavored gelatin (we like watermelon)

1 TBSP. corn syrup

3 TBSP. water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease (or use parchment paper) 2 jelly roll pans. Generously butter a heavy 2 quart saucepan.

Distribute popcorn evenly on pans. Place in oven to keep warm.

In saucepan, over medium heat, combine butter, sugar, gelatin, corn syrup, and water. Heat to 250 degrees or 265 degrees on a candy thermometer or until small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a rigid ball (or soft ball)

Pour mixture evenly over popcorn and stir to coat. Return popcorn to oven and bake 5 minutes, then stir and bake 5 minutes more.

 Turn popcorn onto a large piece of foil. Let rest until cool enough to handle and make balls, or cool completely and break into clusters. Keep dry!

White Hot Chocolate

All I knows this picture looks like plain milk, but it is really a little piece of heaven in a cup! I got this recipe from Paula Deen, it's soooo good. You won't regret trying it!

1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
4 cup half-and-half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine white chocolate chips and heavy cream. Stir continuously until white chocolate chips have completely melted. Stir in the half-and-half, and vanilla extract. Stir occasionally until heated through. Pour into mugs and top with a dollop of vanilla whipped topping and garnish with mint leaf.

Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies

Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter or shortening

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

4 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

½ tsp. allspice

2 tsp. baking soda in 2 cups applesauce

1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix applesauce and soda together.

In another bowl mix together flour, salt and spices

Cream shortening and sugar together. Then add eggs and vanilla. Fold in applesauce/baking soda mixture. Next add flour/spice mixture, mix until well combined. Then mix-in chocolate chips.

Drop by tablespoonful on to parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes and remove from pan

Makes 4-5 dozen cookies

Fun Idea for Halloween Time

(pictured Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies)

Around here, we usually have a fun Halloween tradition to "BOO" another family. Well, this year someone beat us to it. And, they had found an easy way to print off your own, rather than take theirs and get copies of it. I know all to well, that if I probably have to go to a copy shop, it won't get done. So you can go here and get your own copy, as well as some ideas of what gift to give with your "BOO'S". 

Happy Haunting!

Chevron Blanket

I'm not sure why, but I have really been into crocheting lately. So when I found this pattern online I had to share. Here is a picture of what I have done so far.

The pattern is pretty simple, heck I figured it out! So go check it out here!  I am thinking of making one for our family room...brown and cream!

Croc-pot Meatballs

I got this recipe from my mother-in-law. All the boys men love this recipe. Maybe it's because it's meat and potatoes.

Julie's Meatballs

15-20 ready made meatballs (in the freezer section)
1/2 green peper diced
1/2 onion diced
1 can Tomato soup
1 can Chicken with Rice soup

The recipe says to sauté pepper and onion in butter, then simmer everything on the stovetop for 2-3 hours. Me, I like to throw everything in the croc-pot on low for 5-6 hours. You can decide what works best for you.
Then we serve it over mashed potatoes.
Simple and good. Hope you like it!

Why didn't I find this earlier?

Ok folks, I was in the baking section of my grocery store and I found this...

Have you tried it yet? It's amazing. No more greasing and flouring pans, just spray. I have made banana bread and pumpkin bread and they just slide out of the pan. I think it's a great find for all the holiday baking I will be starting soon. Hope this helps you out, and sorry if this is old news to you. I can be a little slow to figure things out.

Need a Little Energy on Your Monday??

No-Bake Energy Balls

1 c. oatmeal

½ c. peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1/3 c. honey

1 c. coconut, or dry cereal, or whatever else you’d like

½ c. ground flax seed

½ c. chocolate chips (any kind)

1-2 tsp. vanilla

Combine everything together. Refrigerate for 1 hour; then shape into balls. Store in an air tight container for about 1 week (IF they last that long) in the fridge.

* I didn't have coconut at my house today, but I had Chocolate Cheerios and added those instead. They still tasted soooo good!

These are so yummy, I don't think that the kiddos will even know they are good for them!

Fried Avocados...REALLY?!?

OK, so, I went with my MIL and a cousin from out of town to Gardner Village yesterday. We ate at the yummy restaurant Archibald's and they have Fried Green Tomatoes and...YES Fried Avocados!!! I was totally shocked and also curious if a fried avocado would be as good as them not fried. So, we all thought what the heck and tried them! OMGeeze!!!! They were FaNtAb-uLious!!! They come with a spicy ranch dipping sauce (it really wasn't that spicy) that was just as good as the tomatoes and avocados. 

If you are also looking for something super fun to do with the kids, take them to Gardner Village sometime this month. It is the season for the witches and all of the stores have tons and tons of Halloween Decorations. It is a super fun place (and can be free!) especially right now with the witches out and about. Have fun and I HIGHLY recommend going and trying the yummy food at Archibald's!

Enchilada Lasagna!

Ok, I have seen a few recipes for this and I smashed a few together to come up with one I like.

(I need a better camera, so these pictures will come out better. Sorry, it's really yummy still)

1-2 chicken breasts
small can of corn
can of black beans
1/2 onion
flour tortillas
red enchilada sauce
Monterey Jack cheese
Cheddar cheese

In a croc-pot put chicken, corn, 1/2 can of black beans (rinsed and drained) and the onion chopped up.  Cover with 1/4 of a can of enchilada sauce.  Let it cook on low for 4-6 hours, or until you can shred the chicken.
Lightly spray with cooking spray a deep dish pie pan.  Pour a small amount of sauce in the bottom and then lay down a flour tortilla.  On top of that add shredded chicken mix, shred cheddar and Jack cheeses over top and pour enchilada sauce on top.  Continue layering and adding the toppings.  Cook in a 350 degrees oven for 15 to 20 minutes to melt the cheese and get everything nice and warm.  Cut it like a pie and serve with guacamole, rice and corn chips.  It's sooo yummy!

Quiet time Lace-ups

My sister gave me some lace up cards for my daughter. It came in a big box and the cards are about the size of a lined piece of paper. So when it comes to space in my church bag those are the first to take out. I was going through a craft bin in my basement and found some wooden hearts. Light bulb! 

I pulled out my dremel and made holes all around the boarder. Then I found some nylon twine type stuff in our garage and cut a few pieces and melted the ends so they wont fray. I painted the hearts and then sprayed them with the cool gloss finish. Ta Da!!! Now we have some lace up shapes for church or for long car rides. I can't wait to do other shapes, or I might mod podge a picture of a temple, the Prophet, or Jesus onto the hearts. The possibilities are endless! Hope this inspires you, or gets the wheels turning in your pretty little head!
Later,

Yummy Breakfast Idea!

I have been addicted pre-occupied with a new website that I have found, and you may have heard of it, it's called Pinterest. They have the most awesome ideas and that is where I have found the yummy recipe for these....

 Then I had some leftover peaches and decided to make a really good smoothie. Not to mention that it was WAAAAY less expensive than going to buy a smoothie some where. 

Orange Peach Smoothie

1 large peach, peeled and sliced

¼ cup frozen orange juice concentrate

2 TBSP. honey

2-2 ½ cups milk

6-10 ice cubes

Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth. 

Kids mobile :)

As you all may know my little girl is out of her crib now, but I am in love with hanging mobiles.  I thought it would be cute to hang over her future desk space and have the can lighting shine through it.  So here goes...

First you get the colored paper you want and punch out the desired shapes. I chose circles, but I think butterflies would be cute too.

Then I just used my sewing machine and sewed a total of 12 circles in a row.  I think I made a total of 36 rows.  It all depends on how big of a hoop you have.  Next, tie them to the hoop.

I used a thin gage wire and cut two long pieces of it.  I made an X and tied them to the hoop.


I got out my handy glue gun and glued a piece of ribbon around the hoop to hide the thread.


Then, you hang in the desired spot.  It think it would be easier to do if you don't have a light in the middle of it.  I still need to straighten it out.


Hope you all like it!  It was fun and easy to make.  Enjoy crafting!!!

Yummy Comfort Food

 As fall is getting here, I am more and more into the baking and cooking mood. I had a pumpkin bagel with pumpkin schmear, TOASTED {of course} today for breakfast and it got me into the fall season {which starts tomorrow people!}. I love warm things to eat in the fall and winter. SO...without delay....here is my yummy recipe for today!!

Homemade Mac and Cheese

¼ cup butter

¼ cup flour

1 cup chicken broth

3 cups milk (about, you may need more or less depending on how thick you like your sauce)

2-3 cups grated, sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup grated, Swiss or Gruyere cheese

½ tsp. ground mustard powder

¼ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. chives

½ tsp. tarragon

½ tsp. thyme

1 box elbow macaroni, cooked al dente

In a medium saucepan, melt butter and add flour. Add mustard and nutmeg and let cook for 3 minutes. Whisk in chicken broth and milk; whisk until smooth and thickened. Then add salt, pepper, chives, tarragon, and thyme, let cook for another 1-2 minutes. Then add cheeses, slowly. Make sure the sauce is NOT boiling when you add the cheese or it will lump up and not be good. Add in the cooked macaroni noodles and stir to coat. Then pour mixture into a buttered casserole dish or 9x13 pan. Cook at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

*you can also add a breadcrumb topping to add a little extra flavor and crunch. I use about

 ¾ cup seasoned breadcrumbs, 3 TBSP. grated parmesan cheese and 3TBSP. olive oil. Stir together and sprinkle on top of mac and cheese.