DIY Hat Pumpkin

Happy Fall everyone! First I want to share this perfect leaf I found laying on the ground at Walmart. I was not sure if it was real or fake. I took it home and used it. It will work perfect on my Pumpkin I made.
So I thought.

   
Every year I come up with some way to recycle something from the house to create a pumpkin for Fall.

As I was searching around the house, I came across a bag of things I was going to take to the local Goodwill store. The bag was over stuffed and an old hat kept falling out. I kept stuffing it back in the bag as I searched for something of a sweater material to create a pumpkin with. There were no options in there. As I turned around to leave the room, the hat fell out again. That's when it hit me. "It is the perfect color. Could I? Will It work? I will make it work".

So, I filled the hat with stuffing.

With a string of yarn, I sewed and gathered the hat closed. Then I ran out into the yard and grabbed a piece of stick for the stem. and.....added the leaf.

I had some raffia and it was perfect for the bow. Remember the leaf? It turned out that it WAS real because after a day, it was not this pretty. This is a very easy project.

Here are a few of the other DIY pumpkins I've made through out the years.
DIY Lace Pumpkin
DIY Book Pumpkin
DIY Toilet Paper Pumpkin

Anything you see that can be gathered at the top, you can make a pumpkin. Now go round up something.

Ive Shared this at:
monday-handmade-linkup-party at judyscardmakingandpapercrafts
tuesday-pin-spiration-link-party at thestitchinmommy.
amaze-me-monday at dwellings-theheartofyourhome
something-fabulous-wednesday at roubinek
thursday-favorite-things-blog-hop at katherinescorner

4th of July and Banana Pudding

 Ha! I gotcha at "pudding" didn't I? Keep reading and Ill get to that.

Hope everyone had happy Independence Day. Its always a great reason to celebrate weather you stayed in or went on a trip. A lot of people enjoyed time with family and friends. It was nice to have a long weekend off of work too!

I didn't do anything with my family, heck they didn't even call, but I still had a great time with my Husband. My daughter went out of town with her friends so it was just us two. We spent part of the day being lazy enjoying being together alone. We eventually made it up town where there was an all day celebration with street vendors, rides and bands.

 
Then had a nice dinner on a restaurant patio, enjoying the breeze. Later that night, was a firework show.

Saturday was a rather nice day too, we spent the day going for walks and riding around looking at cars. Yes, that was pretty exciting since I am in the market for a new one.

I spent Sunday with my daughter. After church we headed to a park nearby where we rode the paddle boats and walked around the two mile lake for exercise.

We also did a little shopping and then..................

To end off the weekend, I went bananas and made this delicious sugar free banana pudding. My brother-in-law makes these and they are delicious! No, its not as good as moms "cooked", fully loaded banana pudding or my Husbands special made banana pudding, but it was perfect for us since we are all on a diet. I didn't have my brother-in-laws recipe but I knew basically what he used in it so I guessed at it and it turned out great! You can't even tell there is not sugar in this stuff.   

 

Lite Banana Pudding

2 small boxes sugar free/fat free banana pudding

2 cups of milk

1 12oz container of sugar free cool whip

1 Box fat free Vanilla Wafers

6 Bananas

Mix the pudding and milk as directed on the box

fold in the whip cream

In a bowl, layer the cookies, slice banana, pudding mixture (about 2 or 3 layers)

I also added some whip cream on top to be pretty but its optional

Set in fridge overnight

Enjoy

Now its back to work for me.
The only thing I don't like about the fourth of July, is once its over, Summer starts slipping away and the stores will start putting out their Winter items. Im hanging on to Summer as long as I can.


Ive shared this at:
something-fabulous-wednesday at roubinek
made-by-me at jaqsstudio
full-plate-thursday mizhelenscountrycottage
thursday-favorite-things-blog-hop at katherinescorner
dare-to-share at pamspartyandpracticaltips

Happy New Year!

Wow, twenty thirteen went by way to fast but I'm ready for a new start.

As I look back on the past twelve months, its hasn't been that bad. My daughter graduated college, I received a pay raise, my online shop stayed steady, I learned a few new things, got rid of a few so called friends. I didn't have to go any further than deleting them off face book because that's the only place they seemed to know me. You know what I'm talking about. Even though I would have liked to be closer and would have been a good friend for them, they just had their own groups and lives and were to busy or thought they were to good to know me well. I say, good riddance.

Looking forward, I'm pretty excited about what the new year may bring me. 

In February, I hope to have some exciting news to share. (no pregnancy, weddings or moves). Just something I've been challenging myself to accomplish and hope it happens.
I also, hope to get a new car this year. I have had one now for seven years and if I see my budget will let me, I hope to have something new. Its just scary thinking about getting into another four years of car payments.
I might be a mom to a college student again. My daughter is waiting on news of acceptance into a masters program.
I plan to visit the beach more often this year, loose weight, tithe more and be a better person.
I have lots of drawers and closets to clean out and maybe learn a few new recipes and crafts.

Today I will be having my traditional New Years dinner complete with collard greens, black eye peas, mashed potatoes, pork loin, macaroni and cheese and cobblers. My house will be full of friends and family as we celebrate the New Year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Italian Almond Biscotti

Every year at Christmas I make goodies to share. One year it was cheese balls, the other it was pecan cookies, etc....But this year I decided to make some Italian Biscotti. My Husband is from an Italian family and I sure would have loved to get a hold of some of his grandmothers recipes. He will often mention the frittata and sugary pastry twist that were favorites along with other unique and special dishes. Most of the time she would make them without a recipe. She had them all in her head and as far as I know, she took them with her to the grave.

Biscotti is an Italian word that means twice cooked. These cookies were twice cooked (or baked) so they would keep longer and hold up when dipped in coffee.

I got this recipe from learnfromyesterday.com. The only thing I did different was I used almonds instead of walnuts and I used 1 teaspoon of anise and 1 teaspoon of vanilla because she said either one would work and that just meant I had to make a choice and I'm not good a making my mind up so I did both. It turned out delicious!

This recipe makes A LOT of Biscotti. I will have biscotti until Easter! When I was making the dough, I felt like Lucy in one of the "I Love Lucy" shows.

However, It ended up doing just fine and made 4 perfect loafs and about 100 pieces. I didn't actually count them and I would eat the broken ones. But I'm pretty sure It made about that much.

I left most of them plain but I dipped a few of them in some chocolate dip to add extra sweetness to these not so sweet cookies. They are perfectly sweet when dipped in coffee. Perfect for a quick breakfast during this fast pace time of the year. And to my surprise, they do not have a lot of calories.

Ive shared this at:

ladybug-blessings

nifty-thrifty-tuesday at linda-coastalcharm

whatd-you-do-this-weekend at tumbleweedcontessa

full-plate-thursday at mizhelenscountrycottage

thecraftyblogstalker

showcase-your-talent-thursday at whatscookinglove

freedom-fridays at myturnforus



DIY Lacy Pumpkin

HAPPY OCTOBER!

Ive been trying to get into the Halloween mood. I had seen some really cute pie pumpkins at my local grocery store and have been putting off buying one until the other day. I had had my eye on one for a week and no one ever bought it. It was perfect and had a nice stem on it. This was the one I wanted.

Now I want to decorate it. I usually will paint them or if I purchase a large pumpkin, I will carve it. As I was searching around online for some ideas, I came across an adorable lace pumpkin at the funhomethings blog. You definitely need to go check it out. While your there, check out the rest of her blog. She has alot of other cool DIY ideas that are sure to catch your attention.

I loved it and since I had some old pantyhose that unfortunately I had out grown, I made me one!

I am happy with the way it turned out. I just cut the leg out of the pantyhose and dropped the pumpkin down in it and cut off any extra lace. Then I scrammed around the house in search of something to make a bow and found some scraps in my daughters art stuff.

All I have in this is the 99 cent it cost me for the pumpkin. I Still have another pantyhose leg and may do another one of these. But first I want to make a wreath. Oh, wait...Another idea just popped into my head. Wish me luck.



I've shared this at:
the-diyers at homecomingmn
ladybug-blessings
nifty-thrifty-tuesday at linda-coastalcharm
whatd-you-do-this-weekend tumbleweedcontessa
made-by-me linky party at jaqsstudio FEATURED
lovely-ladies-link-up at lifewiththecrustcutoff
thecraftyblogstalker
craftionary

 

DIY Mummies!

I normally do not decorate for Halloween but instead, I decorate for Autumn. I love the look of colorful leaves and pumpkins. I'm not big into the scary scene. I find it tacky. But I have a little spooky feel in my bones this year and wanted to decorate just a little bit for Halloween.

See these little guys? They are my sailors. They adorn my mantle in the summer along with other nautical items.

As if they do not already look spooky enough , you are going to see how I turned them into even more spooky looking creatures.

Mummies!

I found an old yellowed stained piece of cloth (I have no idea why I was keeping it) that was perfect for my plan. I ripped it into shreds and wrapped the sailors. Now they are dead and well preserved until after October.

Pretty cool huh? I also had some fake spiders and web to help decorate. I may have to take it down because I hate spiders and frankly this stuff is freaking me out. eeesh.

Lights out!

What if you do not have a figurines to mummify? Wrap a candle and glue googly eyes on it. Your mummy will light up and it will look awesome!


Ive shared this at:
the-diyers at homecomingmn
friday-link-party at craftionary
diy-vintage-chic
freedom-fridays at myturnforus
twiggstudios sunday-show-off

Farmers Market Margarita

Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone! We celebrated with a nice Mexican meal at our favorite Mexican restaurant. We have been going to this particular restaurant  for about 18 years now. We go every weekend and have not gotten tired of it yet. I change my order up each time. All the staff know us and always seem excited to see us.

This is also the Month that our local Farmers Market opened in town. SO, I put the two together and decided to make a "Farmers Market Margarita".  Most of the ingredients for this drink you can get at your local farmers market.

 I will confess, I got my stuff from the grocery store around the block. I also had to make a trip to the liquor store up the road as well. Five minutes later, I made a crisp, lite, 99 calorie Margarita.

Farmers Market Margarita (99 calories)

 

Ingredients:

1.25 oz. Silver Tequila (clear tequila)

2 sprigs of fresh cilantro

4 slices of fresh cucumber (thin with skin)

2 slices of fresh jalapeno (remove seeds)

1 oz. fresh lemon juice (1/2 lg. Lemon)

2 oz. water

2 packets of Splenda or similar


Directions: Add all the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice, shake and serve over the rocks. Garnish with a lime.
 

I do not recommend anyone drink alcoholic drinks but this was a winner. This margarita had a fresh clean taste. You could actually taste the cucumber and cilantro. As far as the Jalapeno goes, It gave it some kick! Gave it some spice! It was defiantly something different and a little hot.

Warning: (1)Women should not drink alcohol while pregnant because of the risk of birth defects.(2)Consumption of alcohol impairs your ability to drive.(3)Drinking to much alcohol may impair your thinking and make you stupid.


Ive shared this at:
sunday-show-off-linky-party at twiggstudios
submarine-sunday at usscrafty
link-party-marvelous-mondays at thisgalcooks
mealtime-monday-recipe-link-up at couponingncooking
lil-luna-link-party
made-by-me-79-linky-party-and-features at jaqsstudio
full-plate-thursday at mizhelenscountrycottage
hop-along-with-holiday-battle-of-bulge

Egg Blowing & Mod Podge

Hope everyone is ready for Easter!

I have to admit, I'm a little slow on it this year. I did not even put out my decorations until this past Tuesday!

I was waiting on my daughter to come home from college for Easter so we could do eggs! This year I have opt for a different approach to decorating my eggs other than the ordinary food color dying.

We did Mod Podge eggs. Whats Mod Podge? Mod Podge is a milky white liquid that dries transparent in less than 10 minutes. Use it as a finish for decoupage. It seals and glues in one application. Really neat stuff. This is actually my first time using it.

First I had to figure out if I wanted to use fake or real eggs. I chose to use real eggs. Oh, but I did not boil them, I blew them.
I found a sharp object and carefully made a small hole on each end of the egg and blew out the insides.

 

Yep. The insides will come out easy through this little hole. I decided not to post pictures of me blowing the junk out of them because its looks pretty nasty.

Once all the inside was out, I submerged in water and blew them out again to rinse. This can be done days or even weeks before your ready to decorate them. They will not go bad at this point, and you now have a perfect porcelain eggs to keep.

I then put them in a pot of boiled tea bags to give them a tan tint. I wanted to give them an antique or wooden look. Some were left longer than others making them darker and spotty. You really just need to leave them in the pot a minute or so and roll them around. This was new to me too.

Now they were ready to decorate. We used spring pictures, designs and flowers to decorate our eggs. You can actually use real flowers to Mod Podge on the eggs. Being that Easter came so early this year and I do not have any flowers that are bloomed and not frost bit, I have to go with paper.

I think they turned out pretty good and they were fun to do.

Lastly, check out the little crocheted peep I made. It was fast fun and easy.

You can find the bunny peep pattern HERE.

Now its time to go out and find a new outfits for Sunday morning and make Easter baskets. Yep, I'm really behind.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend and remember Jesus is the reason for season!


Ive shared this at:
kitchenfunwithmy3sons
myturnforus blog hop Featured

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all of my readers! Hope you can put behind 2012 and make 2013 a better year for you and everyone around you.

I start each new year off with a traditional family dinner with collard greens, black eye peas, pork, mashed potatoes and crock pot macaroni & cheese. My husband worked hard to fix the greens and meat while I did the rest. If you know me, you know i'm all about the sweets so I made two fruit cobblers. For the first time, I made a chocolate pecan cobbler! Read on, I posted the recipe at the end.

Ever wonder what this lucky meal means? Here is a little run down....

 

Pork: Usually consumed in Italy and the United States, where thanks to its rich fat content, it signifies wealth and prosperity.

Collard Greens: Their green leaves look like folded money, and are thus symbolic of economic fortune and believed the more you eat the more wealth you will have.

 

Black Eye Peas: Symbol of money. Their small, seed like appearance resembles coins that swell when cooked so they are consumed with financial rewards in mind.

Now the mashed potatoes and macaroni & cheese are just thrown in the mix for good eatin'. That's how we do it in the South.

 

My husband cooked the collard greens outside. We do eight bundles.

If you have ever cooked collard greens, you'd know why.

Then he grilled some BBQ Pork loins on the grill.

 I cut up ten pounds of potatoes.

Here is the black eye peas, mac n cheese, and potatoes cooking.

I always do a half and half cobbler. This was the cobbler before I cooked it.

I never got a picture of  "after". That's how fast it got gone.

 

 

Before we began to eat, my sweet daddy had a short family devotion.

He left his paper here so now Ill share it with all of you.

 

 

Then everyone found a place at the tables and dug in.

 

It's hard to get everyone in one picture but we had fifteen!

This is where my front living room turns into a dinning room.

 

 

OK now for my favorite part. Chocolate Pecan Cobbler.

 

 

This is the first time I made it and thought I'd give it a try. It turned out wonderful and I will probably have to add this to the menu every year from now on. I was lucky to snatch a piece for this photo. It was gone in no time.

 

CHOCOLATE PECAN COBBLER.

 

Melt 2 sticks butter and pour into 9x13 dish.

 

In bowl mix:

1 1/4 cup sugar 

1 1/2 cup self rising flour

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup milk

Pour the batter mix into the melted butter ( Do not stir)

 

In separate bowl mix:

1 cup sugar

6 Tbls cocoa powder

2 cups chopped or half pecans (optional)

Pour on top.(Do not stir)

 

Then pour two cups boiling water into it (Do not stir)

 

Bake 350 for 30-45 minutes or until nice and brown.

Serve warm with ice cream or whip cream.

Printable Recipe

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

 

Ive shared this on:

adornedfromabove

full-plate-thursday at mizhelenscountrycottage

kitchen-fun-and-crafty-friday at kitchenfunwithmy3sons

Mealtime Monday at couponingncooking

creatively-tuesday at the rustic pig (featured)

DIY New Year Wreath

My door is bare now that I have taken down all my Christmas decorations, so I wanted to make something to hang on my door to replace the Christmas wreath and its not time to hang up Valentines Day decor yet, so I decided to make me a new years wreath using Christmas tinsel and party favors. I usually buy party favors and set them out on new years day for the kids that come over for dinner but that sure can turn in to an annoying sound of clacker and horns, so I'm using them for decoration this time instead.

I started with a foam wreath from the craft store and wrapped and glued until it look right. Then I took two plastic champagne glasses to give it that toasty look.

I got it all from the dollar store but if I would have taken the time to look through my closets, I probably could have found last years left overs. So you could probably make one of these for nearly nothing.

I found the idea from searching new year wreaths on Pinterest. There are so many unique and talented people out there. It just amazes me.

Ive shared this on make-it-yourself-monday at anoriginalbelle

Christmas Through Lens



Finally, after about five years, we went to see Christmas lights. I know, that's a long time, but with our work schedule, our daughters school schedule, shopping, cooking and everything in between, we just never find the time, or if we do find the time, we do not want to sit in the one hour long traffic to see them.

We happened to be lucky enough to live just 8 miles from Christmas Town USA. Unfortunately, this is the lined up traffic I was talking about, therefore, we usually skip this show and go 10 more miles down the road to Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens . Here you walk through what looks like a never ending winter wonder land. I would say its about a mile walk. Maybe longer. They also have horse buggy rides (lost that photo) keep reading.

While we were walking through, and after I had taken many pictures, my memory card got an error.  "Blogger nightmare". Lost it all. Once we completed the walk through, I got it back to working. So, we went through it again. Christmas lights are hard to take photos of and of course my camera even lost all my settings so the resolution, size, etc. was all messed up and it was so dark other than the lights, I did the best I could. Here are a few picture I took. Enjoy.

This is the Entrance before you go into the gardens. Inside you will find a gift shop, coffee shop, Santa Claus, live music, and crafts to make!

I took this photo through a door from outside of a teenager talking to Santa.

 

Some of the cute stuff in the gift shop. (cell phone picture, ha)

In the garden there was live music, and a wonderland of lights, a fire pit, tropical hot house, water falls, lighted tunnels, bridges and even some mazes to go through.

 

 

 Art sculptures along the way were fun too!

 

 Children love running through this water tunnel. Barely getting wet.

 

fa la la la la