How to

Box Fort

May 18, 2012 by Morgan 1 Comment

In my quest for activities for the boys combined with blog stalking I had an epiphany.

Instead of just having the boys use sheets and pillows for forts why not boxes?

The grocery store produce department has tons of boxes and they will give them to you for free.

So I asked and I got over 30 boxes.

A good start

Do you remember that vinyl shower curtain from the dollar store?

Time to color

And now to let them construct…

A giant fort with boxes and the shower curtain for the roof.

After they are done with the boxes we store them in a spare room and when they are destroyed they can be recycled.

This afternoon of imagination cost us a dollar.

Perfect!

Filed Under: How to, Kid Crafts, summer Tagged With: Boys, Crafts, DIY, Kid Crafts, summer

Glow in the dark Easter eggs for a night time Egg hunt
Easter festivities usually have a familiar rhythm to them. Church, Egg hunt, Easter baskets, and lots of food. At least this is what I have seen and heard. We have not been able to get an Easter rhythm down in the last eight years. I am not good at planning them and we don’t do the whole Easter bunny thing.

This Easter I decided to actually attempt something new and change our habit of doing absolutely nothing.

A glow in the dark Easter egg hunt. I got the idea off Pinterest but I have had so many people asking how I did it I am going to post the directions here.

Glow in the Dark Easter Eggs

Purchase the bigger selection of plastic Easter Eggs. I found mine at Walmart for 50 cents a piece. (6 in a bag and I bought 4)

Find the glow bracelets – You can usually find these in the Dollar section at Target or at the Dollar Tree

Scotch Tape

When you are almost ready to begin your hunt break the bracelets to get the glow. Bend them enough to fit in the egg and then tape the crack to ensure they don’t pop open.

Then hide them!

Your kiddos will love them and instead of getting a ton of candy they will get the glow bracelets instead!

Here is a little glimpse from our nighttime egg hunters

Kids hunting for Glow in the dark eggs for Easter

Happy Hunting!

Filed Under: DIY, Dollar Store, How to, Ideas, Kid Crafts Tagged With: Crafts, Easter, Eggs, how to, Ideas

Holiday Decor for Dopes

December 24, 2011 by Morgan 1 Comment

This holiday season I have spent countless hours blog hopping and taking notes from the Decor inclined. I have been determined to have a tree that didn’t look like a reject from the Home Shopping Network (heavy with ornaments that others thought I should like) and have a house that oozes Christmas charm.

I basically want Home and Gardens- Vintage style on a dime budget. And between you and me it is possible. I am not saying that my house oozing Christmas charm and I don’t think Pottery Barn will be calling any time soon but I think I am slowly getting there.

Today I will be showing you my Kitchen cabinet decor and telling you my non-advanced Decor tips:

Look all year round.

I am huge into antiques. I try to find the best buy whenever I have money in the budget. A year ago I found a woman that was remodeling her home and was selling all her antiques. I bought them without knowing where exactly to put them but I knew they would look great ALL year round.
Christmas Antiques

Antiques and Christmas decoration

Never exclude the Dollar Store.

I found some great tin signs with a series of Holiday messages printed on them; Merry Christmas, Let is Snow, the highly contraversal Happy Holidays etc, and bought every one of them for a whopping 6 dollars. Again, no exact place to put them but I knew they were a great deal.

Christmas decoration from the Dollar Tree

Christmas sign from Dollar Tree

Keep items that are still in good condition.

I decided to start fresh with our ornaments this year and was about to toss all our previous colors. We ranged from red, shiny red, blue, white, and silver. Instead I kept them in hopes that I would find a different purpose. I did. The balls are now in the kitchen.

Christmas ornament balls in the kitchen

So, there you have it. I am not expert but I am slowly (hopefully) learning how to decorate… I still have a lot to learn but I want to encourage those of you that have no idea what you are doing, Don’t worry, most of us don’t. We all check out other websites and then fake it.

Filed Under: Christmas, DIY, How to Tagged With: Christmas, Decoration, Holiday

Thursday Link Up

October 13, 2011 by Morgan Leave a Comment

Thursday has arrived and it is time for Green Thumb Thursday.

Here is my most recent super simple project for pumpkins.

I wanted my pumpkins to have a little sparkle this fall season so I decided to make them sparkle rather than buying any. I bought these small pumpkins for 2 dollars and then Mod Podged them with the Gloss variety. I then sprinkled them GENEROUSLY with the Michaels brand of Extra Fine Glitter. (I couldn’t justify buying Martha Stewart’s 8 dollar bottles of glitter) After they dried I shook off all the excess glitter and they were done. Now I have three beautiful pumpkins that I am going to use as a centerpiece.

Now it is your turn. Do you have a project, recipe, or idea that you would like to share with others. Go ahead and link up!

Filed Under: DIY, Green Thumb Thursday, How to Tagged With: Craft, Green Thumb Thursday, Mod Podge, Pumpkins

Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

August 3, 2011 by Morgan 3 Comments

Bacon seems to be all the rage right now. Its celebrity status is almost equal to the Deep Frying rage of the early 2000s. Pigs everywhere are running to the hills…

I recently stepped into the Bacon popularity and made a bacon lovin’ friend some cookies. Chocolate chip BACON cookies. Surprisingly, they turned out fairly good. It definitely is a different flavor but not a bad one.

How to make Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip cookies

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, room temp

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp maple extract

1/3 cup chopped COOKED bacon

1 cup BITTERSWEET chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt – set aside

3. Beat together the brown sugar, white sugar, butter with an electric mixer

4. Add the eggs one at a time and add the maple and vanilla extract

5. Stir in flour mixture until it is just combined.

6. Add the bacon and chocolate chips

7. Bake between 10-12 (I found 11 minutes did the best)

(recipe from all recipes.com)

Give it a try and let me know what you think. I would love to see pictures as well!

Filed Under: baking, How to, Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies Tagged With: cooking, Recipe

How to make Peach Jam

July 10, 2011 by Morgan Leave a Comment

This weekend my friend and I conquered the world of Jam. I actually learned several tips that I know will help me in the future and I wish I knew when I first attempted Jam a few weeks ago. Armed with my phone camera I captured a few moments and I am now going to walk you through How To Make Peach Jam for newbies.

Peach Jam -

5 cups finely chopped, peeled,pitted peaches

1 cup unsweetened white grape juice

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 package – no sugar needed powdered pectin
Makes approximately 6 half-pints

1. Blanch whole peaches. If you don’t know how, don’t feel bad, I didn’t either. Have a large pot of water boiling and place the peaches in the hot water for a few minutes. You will know the peach is finished when the skin is flimsy and is easily removed. Place the peaches in ice cold water immedately. The ice cold water stops the peach from cooking. Remove the peach from the ice water and remove the skin.

Blanching Peaches requires a boiling pot of water and a bowl of ice cold water. Blanching helps prepare the peaches for peach jam.

2. Once the you have a bowl of bald peaches you need to remove the pit from the fruit and chop them up. You need five cups. Your hands will be extremely slimy.

3. After you have finished chopping the peaches. Combine the peaches, white grape juice, lemon juice and NO sugar needed powdered in a large saucepot. Stir constantly. Here is a little tip from me to you. Just because the peaches have begun to boil, it does NOT mean it is finished. The jam is finished when it coats the back of a spoon and does not slip right off. This may take a little longer than “bringing it to a boil.” Just keep an eye on it.

Stir the peaches constantly while boiling to dissolve the no sugar added pectin. Do not be worried if you boil a little longer to get the desired consistency for Peach Jam

3. Ladel the hot jam into hot jars leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust the two-piece caps. Once sealed put the jars in to a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.

When the time is finished take the jars out and wait. Give the tops some time to “pop”. The top of the cap will be concaved in, just like a store. The key is patience. I found that if they weren’t immedately down I was irritated and 10 minutes later after they cooled for a bit the tops went in.

Ball Canning Recipe - Peach Jam. Finished product.

This recipe is from the Ball Canning Book. I felt that newbies to the hole canning thing needed a little more explanation. I know I would have appreciated it the first time I attempted jam.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Blanching, canning, How to, Mason Jar, Peach Jam, Peaches Tagged With: how to, Jam, Peach, Recipe

How to make Lemon Curd

February 15, 2011 by Morgan 5 Comments

During my quest for the perfect cupcake, I ran into a Lemon Cupcake recipe that called for lemon curd. I love lemon curd and immediately wanted to try it out. I only had one problem, the lemon curd that I love (Trader Joes) was not in my immediate possession. I had to wait….and wait… and wait… UNTIL this last Saturday.

My local co-op produce group, Bountiful Baskets, gave me six or seven lemons in my basket. I had no need for that many lemons! Then I got to a thinkin’. What if I MADE myself some lemon curd. And I did. Today. And it was good!

The site I found the recipe on is Fine Cooking. They weren’t kidding when they said it worked.

Ingredients:

6 tbs unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

1 cup of sugar

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

2/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tsp. grated lemon zest

Wooden spoon

1. Beat the butter (if your butter was in the fridge pop it in the microwave for 20 seconds and it will be at room temp. Not hard and not too soft) and sugar with an electric mixer for 2 min.

2. Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 minute.

3. Mix in the lemon juice.The mixture will look curdled but it will smooth out as it cooks. It really does!

(this is right after the transfer from the bowl to the pot)

4. In a medium, heavy based saucepan (I have an old capahlon) cook the mixture over a low heat until it looks smooth. The butter WILL melt and it will look smooth.

5. After it is smooth INCREASE the heat to a solid medium and cook. STIRRING CONSTANTLY until it thickens. 15 minutes. I used a timer and it was 15 minutes exactly.

DO NOT LET IT BOIL

You should be able to leave a path with your finger on the back of your wooden spoon

6. Remove the curd from the heat and stir in the lemon zest. Then transfer it to a bowl and press down plastic wrap on the surface to keep a skin from forming and place it in the refrigerator to completely cool.

Now the recipe says it will keep in the fridge for about a week and the freezer for 2 months.

Here’s mine-

This stuff is amazingly good!!

I felt like such a pro today! I made my own lemon curd, it is edible and it looks cute in Mason jar. All good signs.

Filed Under: Cooking, Homemade, How to, recipes Tagged With: homemade, Lemon Curd, recipes

The Barnacle baring milk jug

February 11, 2011 by Morgan 1 Comment

Today was a productive day. A day of lessons learned.

Today was originally supposed to be Baking Day! A day in which friends would gather at my house and we would bake sinfully good food and enjoy it. Guilt free! Well, that was shattered yesterday when my five year old came home sick from school AGAIN and I had to quarantine my home. So instead of being sad and depressed about the postponement of Baking day and decided to tackled projects that I have had lingering around the house….

FIRST:
I baked. Even though it was not as fun by myself, I did promise my boys and my husband baked goods. They were salivating in the kitchen this morning in anticipation as I pulled out the ingredients for “Dream Bars.”

I am getting ready! See that picture on the left hand side. Mine did not turn out as pretty but they were still good.

Middle of the baking. Now I took the liberty of circling with the handy dandy spray paint feature on the paint program three items that are always within my grasp. My phone, a needle, and a pencil. An odd combo. I am not sure what that means about me as a person but I thought I would let you in on it.

Final Product:

mmm…so good. Now I am not sure if I am allowed to share the recipe with you since it is from a book that I purchased. The book is THE HAPPY BAKER. Go buy it.

After the bars were finished I felt the urge to finally tackle my Antique Milk Jug that I bought OVER A YEAR AGO. I found it at a garage sale for a dollar and I saw it as a project.

It is really rusty and the previous owner decided that she wasn’t into antiques and tried to paint it bright yellow to make it more “attractive.” It didn’t. The paint job was bad and there are these lumps that look strikingly like barnacles.

I pulled out my trusty Naval Jelly that insured me that it will take that rust off that antique milk jug. Not only did it claim to remove the rust it also promised me that it would eat off any exposed skin and make my eyes bubble if I was not properly protected…. I was excited to use it!

Don’t I look GREAT! No make up, snazzy glasses and my awesome hair day?!

Once opened it looked like slime from Ghostbusters.

I put on my protective eye gear and gloves and got to work.

See the big pink thing dripping down – Slime.
I waited the alloted time rinsed it off and expected a miracle! Here is what it looked like-

Does this picture look familiar? It should. It is the same picture at the beginning. It didn’t look different at all. The barnacles are still there and that horrid yellow paint didn’t budge. I decided to try and sand it off and all that did was shred my sand paper. I made an executive decision. It was a dollar jug and I really wasn’t that invested in the redo. I recycled it.

Final verdict on the $1 dollar antique milk jug = Fail.

I am okay with this fail. I still have a kitchen table that is in pieces in the garage. I mademy husband move it from the old house in order for me to repaint it and move it into the kitchen. I have had this table for a year and a half. I still haven’t found my renovation motivation for that project yet.

Filed Under: baking, Cooking, Crafts, Disappointing, DIY, How to Tagged With: baking, DIY, how to

Homemade Glass Magnets

January 25, 2011 by Morgan 4 Comments

I am about to admit something to you…. I have never made homemade glass magnets. I could never figure it out. Seriously. There would always be too much Mod Podge, I couldn’t find the right picture and it took me forever to find the glass bead things. Well, today, finally, my kids and I made the magnets. So for those of you that don’t know how to make them here is how we did it.

Items you will need

Glass bead things – AT THE DOLLAR STORE
Mod Podge Gloss
Scrapbook paper/ pictures/ anything that you are going to want
Paintbrush
Magnets – I got mine at Wal-Mart for 2 bucks
Hot glue

Here is some of the things we were working with. The boys wanted animals and eyeballs so I had to find those images on the computer

Trusty Mod Podge

Glass Things – Only 1 dollar!

Now I did a rough trace of the bottom of the glass so I would have an approximation of how much to cut out

After cutting out the circle (an Exacto would have been better but mine broke in the move) apply a thin layer of the Mod Podge. After it has been applied to the back of the glass wait a bit and apply another layer to the back.

Wait until it is completely dry and hot glue magnets to the back. These are my kids work!

These are mine! So cute and Easy!

While I was hot gluing the magnets to the backs I glanced over at “work” station and noticed flowers that I NEVER use because I love them too much. I had a bright idea…

I hot glued magnets on the back and made myself some beautiful floral magnets!!

There ya go! An easy and fun craft that your kiddos can help with. Maybe not the super young kids! I do need to give a shout out to Amy over at Mod Podge Rocks. She did a step by step tutorial and explained to me that I was applying too much Mod Podge on my images!

If you didn’t know how to make these magnets I hope this helps! If you already did – well- sorry.

Filed Under: Crafts, DIY, How to, Kid Crafts Tagged With: Crafts, DIY, Glass Magnets, how to

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Box Fort

Glow in the dark Easter Eggs