Krista's Krafting

Hawaiian Pork

2012-01-28T11:59:00.005-05:00

I recently joined Pinterest. this am i was cruizin' the posts looking for a way to use the left over pork from yesterday.

Well quite quickly i found Hawaiian Crock-pot Chicken from Six Sisters Stuff

Being the resourceful girl i am, I know that chicken substitutes quite well with pork...

And i had two of the three things needed...

so i had to go hunting for the BBQ sauce and this is what i came up with...

Hawaiian BBQ
• 3/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup peanut oil or 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup Soy Sauce
• 1/4 cup Molasses
• 1 teaspoon Ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon Ground nutmeg

• 1 jar Second stage mango baby food

before serving thicken with corn startch

the original recipe, the bottled BBQ sauce, had mango in it so i made certain i added a jar of Matt's (mangos tend to upset his tummy so i had an extra jar that was just getting dusty) But if you chose to leave it out i'm sure it woudl be fine.

now all i have to do is boil some white rice and I have dinner all wrapped up!

2012-01-18T04:05:00.000-05:00

Christmas Village ~ Burger Joint

2011-12-17T07:04:00.000-05:00

I altered this building. it was supposed to be Joe's burgers.... BUT the checker board design reminded me of a burger place i went to down in Staunton VA with the last vacation I went on with my parents (prior to my fathers passing) So i smoothed down the raised name of the restaurant, and put in the Five Guys logo. I had a great meal there by the way!

Christmas Village ~ Country Store

2011-12-16T07:02:00.001-05:00

Christmas Village ~ Flower shop

2011-12-15T07:07:00.000-05:00

This flower shop was a "summer" building design. I wanted it to "fit in" with the other snow covered buildings so i painted the trees to be oaks, and the shrubs to be pines and applied the white paint REALLY THICK to look like snow. I like it.

Christmas Village ~ house #1

2011-12-14T07:00:00.002-05:00

I had a lot of fun making the color schemes to this! I find myself looking at the buildings in town differently now trying to find color combinations that look "right"

Christmas Village ~ Toy Store

2011-12-13T11:58:00.001-05:00

I love the foot prints!

Christmas Village ~ Corner Market

2011-12-12T11:52:00.001-05:00

Recently i was given a plaster Christmas village. I have always wanted a Christmas village so i was delighted to take it! I LOVED the fact that it was unpainted and i didn't have to conform to how another artist had designed it. I am working to have as many of them painted as i can prior to the holiday. but i do not believe that i can accomplish having it done this Christmas. So i will share them as i get them done

This wasnt supposed to have snow on the flower boxes... but it didnt look right so REALLY THICK white paint did the trick!

Loaded Mashed potatoes

2011-12-11T07:42:00.000-05:00

I had a good friend over for dinner the other night. So I made a special dinner, I asked steve what he wanted to go with the main course (pork roast cooked in apple pie filling)

Well steve asked for "betty crocker loaded mashed potatoes"

I was NOT going to do that! While those are fine for a "quick fix" on any given tuesday night. not for company.

and i didnt have any anyhow...... what i did have was...

Instant plain potatoes
cheddar cheese
sour cream
dried chives
and real bacon bits (not that imitation salad crap)

I made the potatoes, and added everything to them except 1/2 of the cheddar cheese, i topped it with that.

Yes it really is as easy as that... and WOW i made them ahead of time, put it in the fridge, and an hour prior to the dinner i put them in the oven and baked them SOOOOO GOOOD

(this is my husbands SECOND helping)

Rock Gardens

2011-12-10T06:58:00.006-05:00

A few years ago, I painted a rock garden recently i had a someone order 4 of these gardens, here was the process of painting them, I thought anyone

could paint these if they knew how to do it and had the time....

First i get some river rocks and wash them...

then i paint them all a single deep green almost a black.

i "map out" where the leaves are.

then i start trimming out the leaves in different shades of green...

"vein" the leaves then those are done....

step one of flowers.... four circles of flower petals

then i mark out where i want my leaves on the flower rocks to be, and process those leaves as i did the leaves before.

Flip them over and paint an inspirational word on the back

Trim out the flowers like i trimmed out the leaves and put a dot for the centers instead of veins.

find some rocks that are nearly round and make them into lady bugs

These rocks i made into Caterpillars, i'm not certain how well i like them but i think they are cute none the less

this is the finished order

found

2011-11-16T16:11:00.001-05:00

The Wellsboro Gazette

We are pleased to report that Kirsten Clemens has been found and returned home. Police are continuing their investigation into her absence.

Police Seek Help to Find Missing Girl

2011-11-15T21:07:00.001-05:00

This is a girl tha went to school with my daughter.... Please help us find her

Wellsboro police are looking for you help to find a missing teenager.

Police say 17 year old Kirsten Clemens was last seen November 3RD at her home in Wellsboro.

She is five foot two and weighs 140 pounds.

Clemens has green eyes and brown hair.

She was wearing a green Wellsboro High School jacket.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact the Wellsboro Police Department.

It is our general policy to only report on missing persons cases when there is an active search underway and police ask for our help.

Minion hat..

2011-10-29T08:38:00.005-04:00

I made this Hat for Matt to be a minion from the movie "despicable me" for those of you who have not yet seen this movie i posted a picture of what a minion is...

now ts just the yellow shirt and a pair of coveralls and bingo a halloween costume!

I separated the main hat from the decorations in case someone wants to make a plain hat for themselves this is a very easy hat pattern that i worked up myself for another hat that i made for Matthew. totally customizable for adults or older children.

MAIN HAT

(YELLOW) Chain 4 join w/ slip stitch
Chain 2, 2 half double crochet in each stitch, join w/ slip stitch
Chain 2, 2 half double crochet in each stitch, join w/ slip stitch
Chain 2, 1 half double crochet in 4 stitches, 2 (increase) in 5th ; repeat to end of row, join w/ slip stitch
Chain 2, 1 half double crochet in each stitch, join w/ slip stitch
Chain 2, 1 half double crochet in 4 stitches, 2 (increase) in 5th ; repeat to end of row, join w/ slip

Continue this pattern until you get hat to the proper size at widest part of head…

START TO DECREASE

Chain 2, 1 half double crochet in 4 stitches, decrease the 5th and 6th to one stitch; repeat to end of row, join w/ slip stitch
Continue this pattern until you get the size hat you need. The finial row you may need to adjust how many decreases you do to get the correct snug fit you desire. Finish off with a pull thorough knot.

Minion Goggle

(BROWN) Chain 4 join w/ slip stitch
Chain 2, 2 half double crochet in each stitch, join w/ slip stitch tie off
(WHITE) join on Chain 2, 2 half double crochet in each stitch, join w/ slip stitch tie off
(BLACK) join on Chain 1, 2 half double crochet in each stitch, join w/ slip stitch attach to main hat with slip stitch
Chain 10 slip stitch onto hat being certain to stay on same row continue to Chain 10 slip stitch onto hat until you come back to goggle. Leave enough tail to stitch around goggle.
Stuff goggle with fiber fill, use tail to stitch around goggle be careful not to rotate goggle. Tie off.

I need no Knead Bread!

2011-10-28T08:20:00.000-04:00

I was prowling around the grocery store not long ago, Missing the homemade bread i simply do not have time to make any longer. I thought if i had a mix to go in my bread machine....

which is when i stumbled upon this!

I snapped up several kinds and they are great! if i start this first then make dinner, i have warm from the oven fresh bread with dinner!

simply mix the yeast and sugar (all included) then add the flour mixture stir till a ball forms. plop it onto a cookie sheet, let set for 20 mins, and bake! what could be simpler?

Matt's New Hat

2011-10-05T12:30:00.004-04:00

Over on my day to day blog I have a post about the new jacket Matt just got. After some thought and talking to a crafty cousin of mine, I decided to crochet him a hat to go with his new coat. Our fall wind here is always a cause for my family to get ear infections so even when its a "warm" day, a light hat that will cover your ears is most needed.

The more I thought about the hat the more I thought of how to do it, and how I wanted it to look when I was done. I am pleased to say that I only ripped it out once for design flaws. I wish I had written down the pattern!

Halloween shirt

2011-10-03T23:11:00.004-04:00

I was in need of a Halloween shirt,
and my local "superstore" didn't have anything in my size
:(

SO, I found an orange shirt at my local Goodwill,
and spent the evening embroidering on it.

I think it will do the trick nicely!

Crab Apple Jelly

2011-09-21T07:45:00.003-04:00

My Step Father has a crab apple tree. My Mom let him know that i love to make apple jelly. So he told me that i could have all the apples from it that i wanted. {apparently the only ones who want them are the deer} Gleefully Steve Mom and I went over to gather apples. Mom Pushed Matt around in the stroller while Steve and i picked up the ones that had dropped and picked as high as we could reach. There is still probably enough to do this whole process again, and i just might!
Fist i put the apples in my stock pot and filled it with water and boiled the dickens out of them.

Then i put them into a tee shirt that i had sewn the arms and neck hole off. (Basically i made the whole thing into a square bag and cut off the arms and neck after sewing) This is the juice i got from my apples isnt it pretty? a lovely shade of pink.

then i followed the recipe on the pectin instructions to make this beautiful jelly.

bring to full boil;
7 cups of juice
1 package of pectin
boil for one minuet
quickly add
9 cups of sugar
return to boil
add to sterilized jelly jars
hot bath for 10 minuets

Baby shower quilt

2011-09-18T07:56:00.000-04:00

My MIL made a quilt as a project for my baby shower.

everyone had to color a color page, then we ironed them on to the blank quilt squares and outlined them with black sharpie.

I had one square left to do myself,this one was four my aunt that had recently had a stroke, so i had her sign her block, so that later i could color a picture for her and iron it on.

it took me nearly three months, but i finally got this done! (daddy had to have time to color his block too)

these are the special crayons from crayola that are designed for this project.

this is the square i did for myself. You have to press REALLY hard to get the color to iron onto the fabric.

its a wonderful memento of my shower. what a wonderful present for Matt!

Crunchy Homemade Granola

2011-09-16T22:26:00.005-04:00

Steve and i were in a bulk food store the other day and he wanted a package of granola. in the 12 years we have been married i have NEVER seen him eat granola. My daughter and i are HUGE on flake cereal with granola bits. we have also bought a box of granola and mixed it with a flake cereal long story short we eat granola... but Steve never touches it. well, after finding out he LOVES it but never thinks of it.... I went hunting a granola recipe.

Let me tell you, Pour some warmed milk over this for a toasty breakfast on a COLD morning. and get all warmed up inside!

Crunchy Homemade Granola

Ingredients

4 cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped walnuts or slivered almonds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
1/3 cup water
1 (6-ounce) package dried sweetened cranberries or other dried fruits such as cherries, raisins, pineapple, or papaya

Instructions

Heat the oven to 300º. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oats, wheat germ, nuts, sesame seeds, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the oil, honey, and water. Toss the mixture until the ingredients are well combined, then spread it evenly on a cookie sheet.
Bake the granola for 40 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring every 10 minutes to keep the mixture from sticking. Let it cool completely, then stir in the cranberries or dried fruit. Makes about 7 cups.

Pork with Apples Recipe card

2011-09-12T17:32:00.005-04:00

In the store the other day they had a special. These neat recipe cards with the spices included. I thought what a neat idea. They were only $1 each so I thought I would try a few of them.
All of the spices are pre-measured

Even on the back it tells what it is and how much it is. This is great for new cooks! If they want to learn this is pretty fool proof!

The card if you like it to make later, If you like it. ALSO, if you want to make a "special meal" pick this up at the store, then you have the recipe with you to make certain you have JUST what you need!

Here is the finished results. BY FAR the easiest meal I have made, and the FLAVOR WONDERFUL! After all the spices were all VERY fresh because I opened them an d used them instead of them sitting on the shelf for a long time.

I have to give McCormick recipe cards a five star rating for convince and cost. Even full price at $1.59 its not too expensive for an occasional purchase!

indivudual apple crisp

2011-09-06T12:34:00.006-04:00

I bought a bag of granny smith apples to make an apple pie. with my leftover apples, we ate some, but i really had a hankering for apple crisp. but my husband and i had just polished off an apple pie and i didn't want to have a whole apple crisp to have to eat as well. SO i made us each an individual apple crisp.

i had two custard cups that were 2 cup measure. I peeled/cored/sliced one large apple for each dish.

used 1/4 cup of sugar & 1 tea cinnamon to coat BOTH apples.

returning them to their dishes, I prepared the topping. for each dish i opened one packet of maple brown sugar instant oatmeal and mixed a teaspoon or so of butter with each packet and topped the apples.

Bake on a cookie sheet for 30 minuets at 350 deg. top with awesome ice cream and enjoy.

Facebook find!

2011-08-24T16:21:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine posted this on his facebook wall, and I really am intrigued by the method, So I plan on making this, But i haven't gotten a chance to as of yet, and anyone who is on facebook knows that if you see a post today in two weeks you may never see it again. So i thought i woudl scarf the link so that i can at least have it at my fingertips and i can make it later.

Banana bread in a jar

new towels

2011-08-02T14:07:00.007-04:00

I have been away from sewing for so long i nearly forgot how!

My Mom bought me new towels for my birthday so i now have 4 very old towels to get rid of. Well 370 posts ago, I made hair turbans for my daughter. BUT that was back in 2009, which in my world even though it was only a few years, it was a whole lifetime ago!

I made new ones out of the old towels, and i made some improvements only because i now have better equipment. My sewing machine has an overcast stitch to make finished edges with, HUGE improvement, as the last turbans frayed terribly.

I also 1970'ed these to death with some contrasting rick rack. I LOVE rick rack, my daughter umm not so much, but these are probably the last ones i will make as shes off to college most of the time and hardly ever home so these won't get much use. But I like them and the bathroom would seem wrong without a few hanging on the right hook.

After i finished the turban, a had a tad bit of towel left, so i have made hand wipe towels out of the scrap, i hang a towel over the cabinet door, and a folded towel is a lot of bulk on the door. where these should actually nearly close.

Crock pot meatloaf

2011-07-26T20:24:00.004-04:00

It's been incredibly hot and i didn't want to use the oven. I have a meatloaf pan that has holes in the bottom and it fits inside a large bread loaf pan to catch the drippings. well, I thought i could try to use it in my crock pot. well my crock pot holds it perfectly!

I thought it was worth a try. well it worked great! so an oven meal in the crock pot! :)

new idea!

2011-07-15T16:44:00.003-04:00

My niece has been knitting animal toys. I love them i think they are SOO cute, But I cannot knit. yes i have tried. BUT today I found a pattern for something so fun I cannot wait to give it a try!

Best thing ever? they are crochet!

Hot milk bread

2011-07-09T14:57:00.004-04:00

Do you remember hearing about your grandmother making bread on Mondays? then like doing laundry on Tuesday, etc? How did she make enough bread to get through the whole week? well I've got it and i have done it.

While i was recovering from Hodgkin's , I was home and felt well enough to putz around the house but not well enough to work outside the home. so i went in search of my grandmothers hot milk bread recipe. I found it and i made home made bread for the entire week on Mondays. i looked forward to my husband being off to work and my daughter being gone to school and just having the free time to enjoy making the bread.

now don't get me wrong i have a bread machine and i do use it, but i liked doing things the old fashioned way. i have always felt that those traits were something that needed to be kept alive and practiced. OK ill admit it i got started doing all that during the Y2K scare, I learned how to make bread how to can how to garden all because of Y2K LOL!

anyhow i just realised after all that time of doing this weekly i never posted this on my blog! {for shame!}

So here it is....

Hot milk Bread

4 tab oil

4 tea salt

4 tab sugar

2 C hot milk

1 c hot water

2 tab yeast

½ cup 100° water (warm)

12 C flour

Mix oil, salt, sugar, hot milk, and hot water together and let cool to 100°

Add Yeast to ½ cup of warm water for 5 minutes to dissolve. Add yeast to the cooled mixture, add 6 cups of flour mix well. Slowly add more flour until not sticky. Might be 6 more cups might be less might be more depending on humidity of the day. Knead until smooth.

Oil dough and rise in non drafty area for 1 hour. Punch down and form into loaves. Let rise.

Preheat oven to 425° reduce to 350° when bread goes into oven.

FYI, if you want to make this into diffrent types of bread IE: garlic bread for one loaf, before you loaf it up after teh punch down, cut out the bread y9ou want the garlic in, and add your garlic powder to it. and maybe even some dried oregano. I also normally make one loaf into cinnamon swirl bread.

Enjoy your bread making!

If your going to San Fransisco.....

2011-07-02T13:38:00.005-04:00

My Daughters Grandmother recently went to Hawaii. She brought her back this beautiful flower to wear in her hair. its made of a plastic type foam. Michelle has loved it soo Much she has worn it daily, and constantly gets compliments on it.

This is the side view and how it clips into your hair.

At Riteaide we found the same "type" of flowers in a car air freshener. being the creative crafter that i am, I told her to pick up this package and i could whip her up a bunch more of these clips!

So we found some clips, these were made by scunci, and were like $5.

a quick disasemble and a touch of hot glue.

Now we ahve one large one (from Hawaii) and one medium and four small ones. the small ones she wears all at once in a bun so her hair is surrounded by the tiny flowers. SOOO pretty!

These beads are left they are going into her beading kit probably to make an anklet with later on.

Eggplant Parm

2011-06-13T19:53:00.005-04:00

I have been wanting to try to make eggplant parm and i finally bought an eggplant so i could try it out.

I used this recipe (sort of)

http://startcooking.com/blog/383/How-to-Make-Eggplant-Parmesan

I have never seen Kathy's blog before but i think i will be looking it over more thoroughly since this was sooo awesome!

Changes i made...

instead of dry breadcrumbs, I used a sleeve of saltines crumbed in my food processor. I added garlic and fresh oregano to the grind.

and instead of sauce under the eggplant, i used diced tomatoes, garlic, and chopped onion.

and i bought my cheese pre grated

Hershey Bar Birth Announcement

2011-05-28T09:01:00.004-04:00

Years and Years and years ago, I had a friend that had a baby. Honestly its been so long ( I must have been 16 or so), i cant even remember who it was. But they gave out Hershey bars as their announcement.

Hers were made out of construction paper and simply written on with a sharpie. It was soo cute I have held onto that memory all these years.

As i was trying to think of how to do this since my printing and spelling is HORRIBLE, I got to thinking i have a computer and i have a program i know how to use. just work it up. I did this in a matter of hours. now my template is all saved, all i have to do is wait for the event to happen, type in the correct date, and weight and measurements, and print!

the only real obstacle is keeping the family out of the Hershey bars!

HOW TO MAKE THIS YOURSELF....

I worked this up in Microsoft Office Word.

I used custom paper size. 6 x 5.5
Two borders of baby bottles on the top and on the bottom.
One baby clip art on the side
and just regular text on the left.

To make ALL of the clip art easier to place, Select the clip art, right click, text wrapping, and THROUGH. This will allow you to place the clip art freely where ever you may want it so it wont interfere with any text you want to enter.

As you can see you cut out the part over the "HE" in HERSHEY if you were to have a girl, you would cut out the "SHE".

You will need to "sacrifice" one Hershey bar so you can get this all lined up to mark out your "cut away" spot. But that was something I was WILLING to do :)

baby Craft

2011-05-24T09:24:00.003-04:00

This isn't a craft I have done, but a gift i have received. My Aunt Daisy made this lovely quilt for me. each block has been hand embroidered and eh quilt itself was also hand quilted. I have done embroidery lately and let me tel you this is no quickie task! I cannot get over the amount of time that has gone into this project.

The bear was made my by cousin Cheryl, she has made these for every one of her grandchildren and they have all loved them, i too love this! My all tiem favorite character is classic pooh, and she has LOTS of that in this as well. :) I feelso blessed to ahve family that does such wonderful crafts!

fruit salad

2011-05-02T18:51:00.003-04:00

I made this really great fruit salad for Easter. and i have been meaning to post it.

fresh strawberries
cut up apples (peels on)
crazins

yea thats all the fruit i put in it. simple
to "dress" it

Plain yogurt
honey

mixed thoroughly. the amount of everything depends on how much fruit you have, and how much sweetness you want to the yogurt.

My mother makes one very similar that has walnuts in it and raisins instead of crazins. she uses vanilla yogurt. I suppose any kind of yogurt would be fine.

I think it would also be good with blueberry yogurt or fresh blueberries added in.

Middle eastern mint lemonaide (first try)

2011-04-23T17:08:00.003-04:00

My Daughter is home for easter vacation. and for her comparative politics class she needs to do a presention on Syria, and if she brings in food, she gets extra credit. now who isnt going to want to cook for extra credit????

Mint Lemonade

3/4 cup Lemon juice (fresh sweezed)
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup chopped mint leaves, packed
6-8 cups water (to taste)

Place all ingredients in a blender, starting with 6 cups water. Blend well, taste and add more water as necessary.

Now, this is INCREDIBLY refreshing, BUT here at the farm, we have a creek that runs right behind the house and mint grows wild there. so everyone in the house agrees while this tastes excellent, and its refreshing, it reminds us too much of drinking water strait from the fishing hole.

so we probably wont make this again, BUT i f you dont live here with us, then i highly recommend you giving this a try!

choc bar cookies with white chips

2011-04-22T16:25:00.003-04:00

Mom gave me a bag of white chips when she left for Florida. (mainly because the mice LOVE chocolate, and she didn't want to draw them)

Well, Steve doesn't like white choc so i have been putting off using them simple because i didn't want to have an ENTIRE BATCH of cookies to eat by myself.

Another girl at my work LOVES white choc, sooo I thought i would split this batch with her.

Choc White Chip Cookie Bars

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa

2 cups white chocolate chips

1.Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2.Grease a 9x13 pan.
3.Combine the flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt with a whisk in a medium bowl. Set aside.
4.Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth and creamy.
5.Beat in eggs and vanilla.
6.Beat in the flour mixture a little at a time until well combined, but don't over mix.
7.Stir in chocolate chips.
8.Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9.Cool on wire rack.
10.Cut into desired size bars.
11.Store the cookie bars in the pan covered with foil or plastic wrap or remove them from the pan and place them in an airtight container. These chocolate chip cookie bars freeze well too.

Blue birds

2011-04-20T07:46:00.000-04:00

I snapped this picture last week but didn't get the time to do a post with it.

This blue bird took advantage of a nice day we had and started gathering nesting supplies. you can see some grass in his beak. Last year they came home too late and the swallows had taken his favorite nesting box. (we have three) this year by golly, hes not letting it happen! I haven't been home nearly as much as i like to be so that i can watch this nest, and its much too soggy to wander out that way to see where the construction is at. But i will try to be more vigilant in my watching!

Mallards

2011-04-19T07:24:00.004-04:00

The mallards have returned. The mallards come every years for the summer. Daddy used to watch for them every spring. one of the sure signs that winter was finally over.

See, Daddy raised mallards from eggs in his incubator one year while i was a teen, and then set the free. he was very careful to not make "pets" out of them. we never kept them in a cage, they just wandered the farm. then one day they stopped coming home for corn. then the next spring the came circled the farm and lit on the creek. (which we can see from the house)

now, the average lifespan of a mallard is 8-10 years. and its been longer than that since we raised that first pair of mallards. So i doubt that these are our mallards, BUT i don't doubt that these are the grandchildren of our ducks. because before we raised our ducks we never saw mallards here.

THE mallards or their descendants, its still a welcome site every spring.

with the rain we have had, they have all sorts of places to swim. they swam down the ditch in the pasture to the left of my house and this picture is next to the salt lick rock in the barn yard. it rains nearly every day right now. April has truly been a month of April showers. the years are mucky if you walk in them and you don't have an actual puddle, it is more like a over full sponge. no wonder the ducks are here!

Blog Revamp

2011-04-08T06:01:00.005-04:00

I have been wanting to redo this blog for quite some time, as i wasn't 100% pleased with the last background that i had.

As far as content goes, I still plan on posting any crafty things i do, but mostly it will continue to be a recipe page, I know cooking isn't a "normal" craft as crafters think, BUT I personally, think of cooking as a craft something you work at something you learn more and more.

and i love being able to simply hand over my blog site and send people my favorite all time recipes.

I am certain my crafting will come back to this blog, as things on the other blog settle down. as I have been dong extensive painting in the new baby's room, and that is taking up a good chunk of crafting time, and also fufilling my creativity desire.

Never fear, ceramics will be back as will lots of other projects!

For now here are the photos of the completed walls in the baby's room in-case you haven't been following the personal blog.

If you click on the pictures, they should enlarge so you can see the detail.

weather confusion

2011-04-05T09:03:00.004-04:00

I don't know if you can tell from this shot, but that haze on the mountain isn't fog, or smoke its SNOW!

Just yesterday, i was noticing daffodils that were up and budded at my moms (tulips are up too but not buds yet) and I knew if moms were budded, mine would be poking out of the ground.

sure enough they are, and we had a warm day yesterday, and thunder and lightening storm and BUCKETS of rain. BUT today? snow! this is crazy

Cinnamon blondies

2011-04-03T16:16:00.004-04:00

I LOVE BROWNIES. That being said, I have a good friend who is allergic to chocolate. and i'm getting so i hate to eat it in front of her because she still loves it it just doesn't love her. So i have been looking for "chocolate free" recipes.

I went on the hunt for a Blondie recipe, but all that i found had choc chips in them. and many weren't very rich like a true brownie is. and that (to me) is just a cookie not a brownie.

SOOO I hunted until i found a recipe that was indeed rich. then i tinkered with it a tid bit. and she gave her approval of the things this am.

Cinnamon Blondie's

1 cup Butter
3 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
3 Tablespoons vanilla extract

3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

bag of cinnamon chips

pre heat oven to 325
mix first 4 ingredients, then add next four and mix thoroughly, will be thicker than cake batter nearly the consistency of cookie dough. add 1/2 of the bag of chips.

Grease 9x13 pan spread batter evenly, top with remaining chips. Press in slightly.

Bake 1 hour until center is done.

St Patrick's Day recipe box

2011-03-10T06:46:00.005-05:00

Are you really wanting to celebrate St Patrick's day? Last year i made a traditional corned beef dinner. It is my families favorite! They actually CHEERED when they saw I unloaded TWO corned beefs when i bought groceries this year.

So instead of just telling people OH look here, you have to scroll back to here to get the recipe, I decided to post a link to the tutorials to make a GREAT home made Irish dinner!

I am also posting this way early so you have time to buy what you need to get this for you dinner. It is very inexpensive, and VERY good!

One thing i really would like to ask, before you turn your nose up and say "ewwww, i don't wanna try that" just flip over the snaps in the older posts and make certain you can walk away from that and not feel and OH MY GOSH i gotta try this!

tutorial part 1 "supplies"
tutorial part 2 "night before prep"
tutorial part 3 "traditional Irish soda bread"
tutorial part 4 "finishing the meal"

More Snow?

2011-03-07T07:31:00.004-05:00

I personally think an additional 13 inches of snow is a bit much! especially since we were supposed to have an early spring! Steve jsut came in from trying to shovel out, and he said the snow is 14 inches in the driveway and thats not althe way to the dirt, BUT with heavy wind we cant really say how much snow actually fell.

This is Steve's car, you can see the drift behind his car by the fence.

its a two foot deep drift.

This is my "nature window" that's way too much snow against that window!

This shot is for my mom, I know she can tell how much snow is piled up on this drift!

Spring!

2011-03-05T03:24:00.004-05:00

Yea it is still cold, and there is still snow on the ground. But my blue birds are BACK!

If you remember, last year they were late returning, and the swallows took their box. So my blues never nested here.

well they are making CERTAIN that doesn't happen again aren't they? no nesting material but this is the second time i have seen them to this box. the last time was the day before the 12 inches of snow! but i was unable to get a snap of them. they were her and gone so quickly. but yesterday when i snapped these they were here for quite a while. :)

Glad to see they are back!

HOLY SNOW BATMAN!

2011-02-21T06:46:00.004-05:00

I dont think ihave ever woken up to this much snow after a 50 degree day! at 4:30 this am we ahd 9 inches of snow! Steve was "trying to get my car out so that we could go to work today. (the snow was higher than the center of myhubs) But we opted to take advantage of a kind offer of a ride in a 4wheel drive. so off to work we go!

FYI when this picture was taken, we had 10.5 inches of snow!

Krista's Mom's Stuffed Steak

2011-02-16T09:08:00.005-05:00

Yesterday at the grocery store I ran into a very old friend of mine. whom i haven't seen in probably a year. she does keep her ear to the ground and talks to Michelle and keeps up with whats going on in my life fairly regularly.

well as we stood at the meat counter she asked how i fix Swiss steak. my favorite recipe is so simple i rattled it off to her and she dubbed it Krista's mom's Stuffed Steak. and she picked up a pack of steaks to try for herself.

I thought it was a good idea as well so i thought i would make it for dinner too. I Also thought if she thought it was that good maybe i should share this with you.

YES this is a crock pot recipe!

I have put this into a smaller crock pot (see this post for explanation) But if yo0u have a larger family feel free to adjust the recipe size and crock pot size!

what is needed...

Swiss steaks (i have two one for each person)

box of stuffing mix

Jar of spaghetti sauce (you may need more depending on amount of steaks)

toothpicks

Make you stuffing. have it ready to serve. stretch Swiss steaks a bit. put a dollop of stuffing in center of steak fold around and fasten with toothpick. you can stuff these as tightly as you like.

open jar of sauce, put some sauce on bottom of crock pot place stuffed pockets on top of sauce, and drizzle remaining sauce over steak pockets.

let cook all day on med.

serve with a side of white rice.

very simple very good

Pork BBQ sandwich

2011-02-11T17:30:00.005-05:00

Round about this time of year i get sick and tired of soup, pot roasts, baked chicken. and i get ready for finger food and sandwichy type food. you know picnic stuff.

My mom is gearing up to leave on her RV trip of the year and she has started on the great freezer/ cupboard emptying. (she doesn't like to leave the freezer full, or the cupboards) So she sent me up a lovely pork roast.

So what do you do with a pork roast when you cant eat one more pork roast? easy turn it into PORK BBQ!!!!

When i told a girl at work today this is whats for dinner she asked me "how do you do that?" now oddly i still think this is stuff that people just KNOW. But i am trying to remember that not everyone has a passion for learning how to cook like i did nor did everyone have two wonderful cooks in their lives ( mom and my Mom in law) to help us learn on the way.

So I will pass this knowledge on to someone else!

First you are going to need some lean cooked pork. you can get this two ways. left over pork from a pork roast, OR you can do like i did and skip having the pork roast meal and move strait to leftover cooking! (I cooked my roast in a dry crock pot all day on high)

This is a half an onion. that i coarsely chopped and added 2 tablespoons of butter and cooked in the microwave. I could have cooked it in the pan before i added the pork, But i have had the tendency of burning my onions recently so i did it the "no burn" way. add these to your meat.

now you can do this two ways.... you can go to the store and buy a great BBQ sauce like the one pictured above. and just pour the sauce over the whole mess and stir, ORRRRR for you cooking enthusiasts you can make your own sauce.

I am someone (along with another cooking friend) who is trying to find the ULTIMATE BBQ sauce recipe. we face book what we have tried back and forth and maybe together we can come up with our own very unique taste.

that actually started out as a necessity I ran out of BBQ sauce and wanted BBQ bad, so i went to work.

so far these are the ingredients i have in my own sauce. (no I'm not going to give the amounts as this is part of your OWN BBQ sauce journey) I will say the further down the list the less of it you need

Ketchup

honey

Molasses

yellow mustard

liquid smoke (a product that seems to be hard for me to find but I LOVE IT!)

put these together in varying amounts (always more Ketchup than mustard) and you will get BBQ sauce. What is the key? taste it as you make it add an ingredient and taste it. get them all in and then you will know what you have to add more of to get it the way you want it.

Worker block

2011-02-10T06:39:00.000-05:00

I got the worker block done! This block took me several days, I had some trouble with the stitching around the bear as those are some TINY stitches! But with a little trial and error, I

pulled it off. I love how the embroidery really brings the images out in the pattern!

"new" spice

2011-02-09T18:34:00.003-05:00

OK this really inst anything new, As i have been using these three spices together for years. Garlic, salt and pepper.

Now, i know you can easily add these three separately, BUT To spice up a can of veggies quickly, this was just great, or to salt a beef roast before it goes into the crock pot? yea its a time saver without a doubt. although I do caution you if you tend to watch your salt intake.

Under Construction Block

2011-02-07T06:45:00.002-05:00

Superbowl Night found me once again stitching away. This was a VERY simple block as there wasn't a whole lot I could do with it. But I didn't have a lot of time to actually stitch. I don't watch football other than the Halftime show, so I spent the majority of my evening getting done some much needed paperwork.

First Block done

2011-02-06T19:58:00.001-05:00

I completed this block while I was home alone during last nights ice storm. I really like how it Jazzed up the simple printed block. :)

Baby Blanket

2011-02-03T06:49:00.005-05:00

This is the blanket I have ordered for our new arrival. (If you are unaware of whats happening check out this post....)

I LOVE the style and the colors of this but it needed a little sprucing up. So with the help of my mom and my mom-in-law I have decided to embroider on the blocks. Stay tuned for block by block finished updates!

This is going to be my craft project for a while, as ceramic painting is now a NO NO due to the lead that is in the raw Glaze paints. I know that soon I will be back at it! as it is i am chomping at the bit to get my hands back in the mud!

Roast Chicken

2011-02-01T18:29:00.003-05:00

I have a friend that is slowly learning how to cook with his crock pot. i told him about how i roast as chicken in mine. He was quite surprised that this could be done. AHHHH what fun he has yet to learn about a crock pot!

So this post is for him! cant baby sit your oven all day? then put it in your crock pot set it and forget it!

Wash your bird (of course remove the neck and bag of giblets) place in dry crock pot. This bird is still slightly frozen.

If you don't have an oval 6 quart crock pot, then you may need to choose a smaller bird. Purdue hens tend to be HUGE and the fit nicely in my 6qrt. where the smaller store brand (i think) would fit in a round Crock Pot

Sprinkle with some sage and thyme or just all purpose poultry seasoning and set on low. I put mine in before i left for work at 8:30 and when i got home at 4, the timer was just ready to POP!

Can you see all the drippings in the pan? that will make some AWESOME gravy! Just take the bird out of the crock pot, put the lid back on and turn that puppy up to HIGH and add a slurry of flour and water to thicken it. bingo instant gravy that cant be beat!

Low fat cupcakes

2011-01-30T18:26:00.000-05:00

I have too much applesauce! so i remembered that you can use applesauce in a cake mix instead of oil Just replace cup for cup. that made me pull out a chocolate cake mix and whip these up. I so rarely make cupcakes anymore that this just felt fun! and of course the nonpareils were fun too!

Roast Beef hash

2011-01-20T20:42:00.005-05:00

I got hung up at work, so I needed a good meal fast, and I really didn't want to eat Pizza, so I got to rummaging around in the left over’s and found 1/2 a beef roast from two nights ago.

I had made the beef roast in the crock pot but I didn't let it cook until it fell apart like normal. So it was very slice able. I had thought perhaps I would make roast beef sandwiches or something.

I decided to make roast beef hash and from fridge to table it took a whole 20 mines. AWESOME!

I also had it pointed out that some people are just starting out and maybe some beginner recipes would be good to put on here.

Now I would like to say, that this is good for a dinner or for a breakfast. I love to fix something like this on a Saturday am for my family. A late breakfast like this works for breakfast and lunch then you have more of the afternoon to spend doing something together.

First chop some potatoes and put them into a hot frying pan with some butter, I have mine cut up in very large pieces, you may want to cut yours smaller. If they are smaller it will reduce your cooking time some.

while these are cooking I cut up my beef roast leftovers, stir your potatoes and add your beef

while this is browning, cut up some onions, You are going to wait till you potatoes are tender before adding your onions since they are quick to cook and will burn every easily.
See how nicley browned it all is now? this is how it should look before you add your onions.

Make some toast and fry two eggs over medium (or however you like them) and you have the perfect dinner. In 20 mins!

Cho Chip Cookie Bars

2011-01-09T20:02:00.004-05:00

I was in the mood for chocolate chip cookies, but as i have sdaid before I jsut hate having to sit in the kitchen and make pan after pan of cookies. our house is set up so that if you are int he kitchen you are kindo cut off from the rest of the house. and i love my family time, so i really dislike baking in the eveing. but there are times that you jsut HAVE to have hot cookies. So i looked up a pan recipe.

This is what I found.

Choc Chip Cookie Bars

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1.Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2.Grease a 10x15-inch pan with cooking spray. If you prefer thicker chocolate chip cookie bars, like I do, use a 9x13 pan instead. When I last made them in a 9x13 pan they turned out about 1-inch thick and took just 30 minutes to bake.
3.Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt with a whisk in a medium bowl. Set aside.
4.Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth and creamy.
5.Beat in eggs and vanilla.
6.Beat in the flour mixture a little at a time until well combined, but don't over mix.
7.Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using).
8.Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (avoiding chocolate pieces as they will be melty).
9.Cool on wire rack.
10.Cut into desired size bars.
11.Store the cookie bars in the pan covered with foil or plastic wrap or remove them from the pan and place them in an airtight container. These chocolate chip cookie bars freeze well too.

HOLIDAY MINTS

2010-12-21T18:12:00.004-05:00

When I was young my mom and I made mints one year for Christmas.

I was especially missing that this year so I thought Icould whip some up but i couldn't find the recipe, and for once I didn't want to bother Mom.

So I sat down to think, and while I think I like to eat. As I was nibbling on my potato candy I got thinking "Wow this is really like the mints!"

SOOOO another batch of potato candy was stirred up.

2 (1 lb.) boxes powdered sugar (added slowly)
1/2 c. hot mashed potatoes

I mixed this up just like for the potato candy but I learned one VERY IMPORTANT thing.

DO NOT have lumps in your potatoes! or as you start adding sugar they will show up. after say the first cup of sugar your batch will be very runny, and this is when you will see the lumps.

If by some chance you do (like i did) take your batch and run it though a screen sieve ASAP do not add any more sugar until you get the lumps out.

Keep adding your sugar until you get a dough like substance. Divide this into as many flavors as you would like. We chose three flavors peppermint, lemon and eggnog.

The flavors coincide with my extracts, peppermint lemon and rum. We added food coloring to the lemon and the peppermint, and to the rum extract we added 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg instead of color. To assure the flavor was mixed evenly I made a dent in the ball of dough, and added the flavor and the color at the same time. So I could see the flavor blending.

Make them into small balls and press then with a cookie press, or a dual fork (like peanut butter cookies) or we used a piece of cut glass that had a design on the bottom.

After you get them pressed allow them to air dry for an hour or so, they need to dry out a bit on the outside. then you can plate them up!

Potato Candy????

2010-12-07T14:46:00.004-05:00

My Aunt Eleanor (my father's brothers wife) is a fantastic cook I like to think i take after her, But i know that's only in spirit and in her recipes! This is a candy she would make at Christmas time, but the recipe was lost. I recently found one online that SOUNDED very much like hers. and i just HAD to try it!

Sure enough it was JUST how I remembered it!

I thought i would put it down here for anyone who would like to enjoy it as it is a VERY old recipe and many peoples grandmothers used to make it and people forget about it.

I missed the make two rolls part and i don't think mine was thin enough.... but for a first try I think i did OK.

IRISH POTATO CANDY

2 (1 lb.) boxes powdered sugar
1/2 c. hot mashed potatoes, drained
1 sm. jar crunchy peanut butter

Mix sifted sugar into potatoes a little at a time by hand. (Don't panic when potatoes liquify as the first sugar is added. This is what it's supposed to do. Just keep adding sugar until it is pastry consistency.) Sprinkle wax paper with additional powdered sugar. Take baseball-sized ball of mixture and roll out like pastry. Spread with peanut butter and roll like a jelly roll. Wrap rolls in plastic wrap; chill and slice.
Makes 2 rolls.

Could be worse.... It could be raining!

2010-12-01T08:08:00.003-05:00

Wait! IT is! wow it has POURED rain all night, and the forcast says 100% chance it will KEEP pouring!

I have a stream that behind the house, its not really big, most places you can wade across in capris and not get your pants wet. but today its UP! the furthest water in the picture is the actual creek bed. the rest of the water is where the feeder streams ( less than 12 inches across) have over flowed the tiny bed and run all over. and the main stream has broken its banks and have made an island around in a very old bed that at one time was occupied by a local beaver.

These storms never seem to affect my home, they just make the stream a bit deeper in spots. and well flood my basement. I amcertain that any one who has water in thier basement from time to time will need to get out the mops and such to dry the place out!

A chef John thanksgiving!

2010-11-26T08:08:00.002-05:00

I decided to try this out this year for my Thanksgiving dinner.

It DID NOT crack, it came out phenomenal! by far a new holiday standard at my house! If you love cheesecake, YOU MUST try this recipe out!

we omitted the strawberry sauce and i must say, no one who ate it thought it needed a thing!

for a complete list of ingredients got to www.foodwishes.com

Craft fairs...

2010-10-14T05:54:00.003-04:00

Who would have ever guessed that so much work goes into getting ready for a craft fair? i just thought it was make your stuff and show up! BAH! theres inventory sheets, price tags, table prep. and thats just what IM doing! My coconspiritors, Bridgette, has done the application process. (i would have never gotten that done!) and Missy, is working on keeping us all calm as caft fairs to her are old hat!

I am the ever panicked one, stressing over do i have enough made of this or that. but with approximately 160 peices I think im good. I dont really know if i have enough done to get me through all three we have coming up. one in october (this sunday) one in november and the big one in december. but i know i will know a bit more about how this works after sunday!

Our weather for the event looks promicing although its going to be a bit on the chilly side with a high of 55deg. our event IS outside. so we willhave to dress for the occasion! I think i will wear what michelle calls my "Colorado sweater" she says it woudl be all the rage out that way! PSH. But it is a very warm outfit and its layered so if i need to i can strip some of it off if i need to.

unloaded kiln

2010-10-09T06:51:00.003-04:00

After much hurring and painting i managed to get my kiln loaded and fired... here are some of my geogous results!

I have also started very informal classes, Not the ones like my Gma used to have, I want people to know how much work goes into slip-cast ceramics. soooo I am actually teaching the first steps like pouring molds.... the people that really like it will stay on. then we can have a nice little ceramics club. :)

Incredible news!

2010-10-03T20:20:00.003-04:00

Last year I had a post about "dicken's of a christmas" (see post here) well, A girlfriend persuaded me to enter some of my ceramics in the contest to get into be a vender.

Let me first sday that to be a vender for this you have to be really good at what you do. or you dont even try. you have to have it submitted by the beginning of September, you have to have photos of your work, and it is a JUDGED entry. So a pannel of people decide who gets to and who doesnt. many of the locals, just know they get to come back year after year and they never sweat getting to get in.

Well I got in. Two of my GFs and I will be selling our individual items at this event on december 4th this year. I am so excited!!!!

emergency cookies!

2010-09-27T07:43:00.004-04:00

Michelle came home from college for just an afternoon (yes thats a horrid drive 3 hours one way) but, she had an issue that needed resoved here at home so she took on the challenge.

She had made an agreement with my mom that when she came home mom would fill a box of cookies for her, well with the beautiful indian summer we were having Mom simply did not have the time. So i took it upon myself to make a batch of cake mix cookies for her to take back.

what are cake mix cookies you ask? well you get your favorite cake mix.

stawberry is one of Michelle's

and you follow the recipie on the box. ALL BUT THE WATER!
you add just enough water to get a cookie like dough. it may be a bit less stiff than say chocolate chip, and if you add too much just add a bit of flour to even it out.

scoop the cookies out with a 2oz scoop and bake at 350, but watch them! they will burn really easy!

place them on a cooling rack and make a glaze out of cake frositng and a touch of water (I had some left over frosting in the fridge) for a pretty top. and youre done!

temporarily out of order

2010-09-13T17:06:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone...

This is a post to assure you that i am not dead or forgotten that i actually have a blog make that TWO, But some how I have managed to become computerless for a short time. my main PC went down in a power outage, then my back up died by the swat of a fly, and then the back up for my back up (we were inh the proces of trying to get that online accessible, well that fell through as well. All of my computer actions now are taking place on my internet capable Wii gaming system (thank goodness for that purchase)

So consider this the last post for this blog for a bit....

Oh and by the way I finished that dress purse today, it came out soooo cute! but unfortunatly, my Wii wont upload photos to the web... :(

Dress bag....

2010-08-19T06:37:00.003-04:00

Alright I don't have this done yet, but this is in the works....

two weeks ago i joined a sewing group. Its just three of us that went to the same middle-school, back 100 years or so ago. We we all have so much in common we decided to start sewing together once a week.

well the first time my friend Missy told me about a blog that had made the cutest diaper bag out of a vintage dress. then later on in the week i was out thrifting with the other friend Bridge, and i saw this A-dorable dress. children's clothes we 25cents a piece so it was a no brainer...

So here is a partial tutorial on how to take this from dress to fashion bag....

I will post the rest as i get it finished....

This is the dress, it is a size 4

First i decided that i want a border of brown just above the pink waist line so i cut off the bodice. This will be the top of my bag. At this point I also sewed up the back where the dress buttoned, and tore out the sides to remove the waist bow that would have tied int he back. i saved them, they will become my purse handles .

I LOVED the neckline of the dress so i didn't want that to go to waste. Missy Suggested that i use it to make a pocket. But because of the "V" neck I was afraid things might fall out of that pocket. So i took some fabric from what will be the liner of the bag and made a second pocket to put behind the front.

Incidentally, the liner of the bag is a contour sheet I bought the same day that as you can see compliments the dress quite well.

When i laid the pocket on top of the dress it didn't have the POP i wanted it just all sort of faded into the bag. So i opted to trim the pocket with more of the liner fabric. Then after (why is it always after?) I had the pocket sewn on to the back side of the bag, i noticed that due to the gathered top, the pocket gaped. So i leaned how to use my button hole maker and i just need to sew the button on where the white pin is holding it.

The button was salvaged from the back side of the bodice

My next steps are....

Make the liner to fit the inside of the bag
attach the handles
sew the liner to the top
finish the purse opening.
Sew the bottom of the dress together
possibly run some elastic through the hem of the dress to give it a poof.

I also have to decide on how i wish to make a closure to the bag.

Ceramic Ornaments

2010-08-14T10:26:00.003-04:00

A girlfriend and I are trying to get things ready for a Christmas craft fair that will be in October. So I have been working at Painting a ton of ornaments. Here are some of them!

First fire done!

2010-08-10T18:38:00.003-04:00

Well here are some of the posts i have finished! When i opened the kiln it was like Christmas morning! I have individual pictures featured in a link in the side bar. There are three links to three photo albums of crafts I have made available to purchase. Feel free to peruse them :)

POTS, POTS and MORE POTS!

2010-08-07T20:54:00.003-04:00

My Mothers husbands oldest Son Hand throws pots, these are what he considers "trash" well they were left over from an order of 2,000.... Mom scavenged them from his house on his last visit.

She thought i coudl try out all of the new paints i had bought over the last year on them So i got started!

They have all be clear glazed on the inside, and on the outside of these i have numbered them with an underglaze this wont burn off as a marker or pencil will... and i have coordinated the numbers with the paint bottles as i paint them. 63 is the last number i painted...

then i load them into the kiln as i get them done! these are the 18 that i got done today. these are all but three of our "art" glazes. Art glazes have a neat effect. I chose to do these first due to the fact that i LOVE the surprise of these when i get to the bottom of the kiln.

Finally finished!

2010-08-06T08:34:00.003-04:00

Well Nearly.... All that needs done is purchase a music box for this! The elves dance around the tree as the music box plays...

This one has been in the works now for three years. But it is done. This is an item of bisque that i purchased already fired. I encourage you to click on the picture to enlarge it to check out some of the detail work on this piece.

Craft items

2010-08-04T08:04:00.002-04:00

I have decided to sell some of my craft items, as my hobbies are starting to overrun my home, my closets, and mostly areas all over.

IF you are interested here are the items i have, they are listed on my face-book page, Most of my settings are private, but these albums are public.

if you wish to purchase, you can contact me though facebook private message, or through my contact me on my blog.

This is the link to my finished craft items...
Kraft photos

This is a link to my ceramic bisque ware...
Bisque ware

bisque is painted with normal craft paint that you can purchase at your local craft store, and finished by spraying with spray of clear varnish.

The Story of the Bookworm

2010-08-03T20:36:00.006-04:00

This is a craft I have had for YEARS. I just haven't done it. You need a bit of back story though...

My grandmother had a ceramic shop in the basement of the house I live in now. A room to pour in, and a room to hold green-ware until someone desired a piece then it would be fired.

These bookends were poured and sitting in the green-ware room. It was in many pieces. The head needed "slipped" onto the body and the hat was in pieces too.

It hadn't been touched in God knows how many years. Grandma died back in 1995. and she stopped doing ceramics YEARS before that.

So the lonely bookworm had sat there on the shelf in peices for an easy 10-15 years. Waiting for someone to want him. Then I moved in.

I was in the basement remembering Grandma and ceramics, the cool of the basement, the smells of the damp, and the slip that still is on the floor. All wonderful memories of summers spent in the basement because it was too hot to be outside. When and I saw him. I decided I would put him together. now it wasn't the best laid plan. I used broken green-ware and water to make slip (a big no no) and i carefully went to putting him together, I used too much slip and had to carve out his neck and hat to make him look as he should.

Grandma hated to slip objects together, and I will admit it is a real pain the the tukas. So it was no surprise that he had been in peices. After I had him together I felt better. I didnt feel as if I missed Grandma as much. A kind of calmess settled over me, and yes I left him in the basement, after all I had no kiln and there wasn't anything more I could do.

Then Mom bought a kiln. I was so excited I had him in the first fire. But then he disappeared. :( and was forgotten....

Yesterday he reappeared in a box of "unwanteds". This wonderful craft that was almost 20 years in the making, spanned three generations. An undeniable connection between Grandma and me. We did not share much but we do share this.

Now hes finished. And I have a smile as large as his :)

Ceramic shop

2010-08-01T17:29:00.005-04:00

When I became ill I had to give up doing my ceramics. I simply was not strong enough to do the heavy lifting that is required to lift molds, slip, etc etc.

I think i have finally reached the strength that i can actually do them again. I am whooped. I can really tell i have worked hard today but i did it. and i have a fired off kiln, new bisque to paint as of TOMORROW, and a whole lot of greenware ready to be cleaned just as soon as its dry enough.

my molds are drying, and they need to be put back on the appropriate shelves. but its all cleaned up. the last time i tried this it just was too hard so today i am really glad that i was able to see it all the way through.

Garden Update

2010-07-29T07:06:00.003-04:00

Well the Potato vines died... That was a cue to get those puppies out of the ground and this is what we got!

I thought i would pull up a few carrots and see how they were coming along, I don't normally have much luck growing them because i crowd them. But i am pleasantly suprised that we had a few nice sized. at least nice enough to go with the potatoes!

This is the cucumbers...

I put a tomatoe cage over them when they were small, then tied some twine above them on a pole that goes up to the roof down to the cages. and they just climbed right up them!

see all those blooms? how about those tiny cukes? I am so impressed this is the first time i have ever grown any cukes!

another bug!

2010-07-28T22:09:00.002-04:00

This one is a walking stick.... to see two odd bugs in the same month is wild! I thought this was clearer or i would have snapped another pic before removing it from my porch rail.

New Cat Statue..

2010-07-25T07:06:00.000-04:00

This is Baby Pepper.

I have been helping my daughter pack for college. and as shes packing the things off her shelves, other things are being relocated into her room.

One of them an 8x10 photo of our family. Pepper suddenly decided that this opening needed to be filled... OK so my cat as OCD...

My Birthday

2010-07-24T19:58:00.003-04:00

I was planning on having some sappy birthday post with pictures of me for my birthday today but i didnt get to it last night... doesnt matter anyhow because Mom did it for me

So today please refer to my mothers blog for your dose of Krista....

http://ontheroadwithlouandkathy.blogspot.com/

Family Reunion

2010-07-23T21:55:00.002-04:00

Summers are always filled with days spent with Family,

We recently went to My husbands family reunion. not a lot in attendance but it was a quieter event with the time i wanted to be able to read the books and see how everything fits in. It is sad that we all live in the same town but so seldom all of use get together. so we took this opportunity to take a picture. We only had one person missing at this time, our daughter Michelle.

From left to right..... Missy (My SIL), Bob (FIL) looking at Missy's son Nick, Mary is next (MIL) Cliff (BIL), Steve (DH) and I.

Old fashioned Rice Pudding

2010-07-18T11:23:00.006-04:00

My Grandmother used to make a rice dish that she cooked on the stove, i was never really able to replicate it due to the fact that she...
1 ~ used raw milk
2 ~ didnt have a recipe

I did however get with a gent I worked with for a while whos family did alot of the "old" recipes. and he gave me this one.

It is comparable to grandmas not exactly right, but very close.

There is one thing when most people hear rice pudding, they think of a custard, but this is without eggs it is thickened merely by the starch from the rice.

Old Fashioned Rice Pudding
1 quart whole milk
1/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C raw rice
1 Tb butter
1 tea cinnamon
1/4 tea salt
1/4 tea nutmeg
1/4 tea Pumpkin pie spice
1 tea vanilla
1/4 cup raisins

heat oven to 325 grease a 1 1/2 qrt casserole dish combine all ingredients except for the raisins. bake ncovered for 2 hours stirring often

add raisins, stir gently bake for additional 30 mins

serve warm or cold.

I actually did this batch in the crock pot and it worked very well but make certain the crock pot and liquid is hot prior to adding your rice.

ALBINO Praying Mantis

2010-07-09T09:19:00.005-04:00

Praying mantis's are pretty rare around here we may see one every two years or so, but my daughter was unloading her car the other day when she freaked out there was a big bug crawling from a pile of hay in our drive way up her leg.

Steve ran over to her to see what she was scared of, she said it was a "pink bug" he hollered back to say it was just a praying mantis. I dashed for the house to get my camera!!! Praying mantis are normally GREEN!!!!

How rare is this?! NEAT!

Heat wave! (late post)

2010-07-07T07:06:00.000-04:00

The temps here have been just horrible! in the 90's but luckily I have AC in the Living room and it keep smy kitichen fairly cool. I took some time out of my schedule, to to sew up this curtain for my front door. thats two windows down and one to go!

4th of July (late post)

2010-07-05T07:06:00.000-04:00

I am thinking of framing this one...

I spent the 4th of July practicing my photography and using different settings on my camera to try and get some decent pictures of fireworks. Pictures at night with light movement i thought would be very hard. but holding the camera steady seemed to be the hardest.

I had some time to speak with a professional photographer recently, and afterwards I realized that alot of it was just taking pictures and then seeing what you have.... HERE'S to a full camera card!

We watched the fireworks with my husbands family, they go to the same place every year sitting next to me was his grandmother, then his mother and last in line was his Aunt Betty.

Nature Update

2010-06-29T09:06:00.005-04:00

I just realized I havent posted anything about my nature in a while!

Baby Birds...
I checked on the babie birds a DAY after my picture and they were GONE! I saw NO flying lessons, no babies in the grass, they were just GONE.... guess i had missed warm ups? We now have a wren building in another box. I have seen the blue birds, but no nest looking over just yet.

Mr and Mrs Fluffytail...
They are still here, They love our peanuts, and they dont mind sharing them. They have encouraged chipmunks and red squirrels to enjoy the bounty of our home as well.

this is our porch rail, and that is a feed dish i set out,
peanuts and an inch of water.
Cute little bugger cracked the peanuts and
hid them UNDER the dish

He also like climbing on our expand gate that we keep for kids/dogs that may be at our house visiting.

New Visitors...

When you encourage Nature to come to your house, you sometimes get wild animals that should not be here....

I did not go outside to take this shot...
there were three two month old coons here yesterday AM
and they moved on shortly after these were taken

GO SEE THIS SITE!

2010-06-21T13:07:00.003-04:00

For all of my readers that think they cant cook, and wish they could learn to cook better, Here is one more place you can go to learn. very simple very easy to follow videos....

http://www.youtube.com/user/foodwishes

there is everything on his page from sloppy joes, to Grilled Game Hens!

he also has a video blog http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/

Chef John does a wonderful job at this! and i will be tryuing out some of the things i have found on his site!

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken

2010-06-18T22:48:00.005-04:00

Sound good? YEA! well I had this idea, So I went looking for a recipe for this, and i just couldn't find one.

What do I do if i cant find a recipe? I MAKE ONE!

So here we go!

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken
Take four boneless skinless chicken breasts
Butterfly them..... lay them out on a rack

Get your self a box of stove top, and fix it in the microwave, (I mean if you want to you can make your own but i felt lazy the day i did this....)

Stuff the chicken breast with 1/4 of the stuffing. yea i know the thing wont close around it that's OK....

then we are going to take the bacon, and start wrapping (slightly overlapping) the bacon around the chicken breast. I used four slices on some, Just keep wrapping until you get the whole breast trussed up with the bacon. (it kinda reminded me of wrapping someone with an ace bandage)

after you have all four wrapped, place in an over at 350 degrees. and you are going to bake them for a while... I am thinking i did mine for an hour or so. MAKE CERTAIN you get a temp reading of 180 degrees in the chicken AND in the center of the stuffing.

While this is baking, get yourself some baby carrots and put them to boil, and in a Pyrex 2 cup measuring cup put in 1/4 cup of maple syrup, 1/4 cup brown sugar, two tablespoons of butter, and three tablespoons of corn starch and 1 teaspoon of nutmeg.

you are going to heat this in the microwave for about a minuet but don't walk away you do not wan this to burn.

This is how your chicken should look when it comes out of the oven... OMM NOMMM...

your carrots should be done by now too, drain them and pour your sugar mixture over your carrots. heat them slightly to thicken.. DON'T LET THEM BURN!

the smokiness of the bacon and the sweetness of the carrot glaze combined with the seasoning of the stuffing just is WOW in your mouth!

Gardening tip

2010-06-15T19:41:00.003-04:00

I read somewhere that you can use a bucket to water you garden. All you had to drill a small hole in the bottom of the bucket.

I didnt put the hole in the very bottom, it was a drainage hole from an over watered tomato last year. but i thought why not? it might work and sure enough! it trickles water out of it! I put the bucket in the center of my four tomato plants. and the bucket will water all four plants! just fill the bucket when the tomatoes need water and presto! all done nice and slow.

and yes the tomatoes look really sad.. give em a few days and they will be so much happier!

Update on the potato plants.... arent they huge????

Ready to leave

2010-06-12T22:21:00.003-04:00

well the babies are all but ready to leave the nest. fully feathered. they dont look like helpless birdies any more. The next shots I will take of them is trying to fly....

Gramma's Chicken

2010-06-10T10:52:00.008-04:00

I was recently informed that I have never posted my Grandmothers Chicken recipe. So My daughter took the photos for this post with her new Camera.

Now try to remember that I am not big on recipies. and This recipe has become one of my own I will "wing it" for those of you whoe need measurements.

1 chicken cut up (this time i used 3 legs 3 thighs)

wash and "bread" the chicken in this mixture....

1 cup of Pancake mix
teaspoon chicken seasoning
teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon garlic
salt and pepper

have frying pan hot and with about 1/2 cup of oil in it ready for chicken as soon as you take it out of the breading. as seen here....

cook on medium heat until breading is golden. when it gets close check it frequently by peeking at the bottom.

flip it all and brown on opposite side.

While the chicken is browning use this time to chop up an onion and some celery. set aside. (this is my hand chopping very fast LOL and i should have moved that cake so I had more room!)

after chicken is browned move to a deep dish casserole dish (you might be able to use a 9x13, I have a glass chicken roaster that i use for this.

Actually Gramma used to do all of this in the fry pan, but My sister saw a pork chop recipe much like this that finished cooking in the oven. ITS MUCH BETTER this way and easier.

After you put it in the casserole dish, dump your chopped onions, and chopped celery over the top of your chicken. (here is the important part....) the left over breading mix... YOU DIDNT THROW IT OUT DID YOU??

add some cool water to it and make it into a thickener. and pour over the whole pan evenly. I know your brain is screaming "but the salmonella!!!" well that chicken you just put in? its still bleeding anyhow because we just browned it. the next step will fix all that. you are also gonna add some water. i think i added a pint. Just enough to cover the whole mess.

You are now going to bake it in the oven for an hour (425) or until the chicken in the middle is at an internal temp of 180 degrees. THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT. and you might want to have something under it... mine ran over in my oven.

the water turns to an awesome gravy, the chicken is tender and omm nommy, serve it with plain potatoes and grandma used to use fresh green beans from the garden. the smell of this dish is to die for.

I would like to thank Michelle for being a great photographer until it was done of course, she was so excited about eating this, she forgot to take my finished product shot!

New Kitchen Curtains

2010-06-08T18:25:00.004-04:00

Didn't they turn out great?

BTW,
they are made out of recycled sheets

BACK TO SEWING!

2010-06-07T09:34:00.003-04:00

I moved away from sewing for a while due to some health issues that have now been resolved, and then I got busy yada yada yada. well anyhow, So last night i made these place mats to match my kitchen table cloth. neat right? ON TO THE NEW CURTAINS!

Pea Trellis

2010-06-06T10:28:00.003-04:00

This is a pea trellis... Its made out of hemp twine tied around a paint stir stick at the top (which will be the bottom) then i tied knots here and there making a "net" type of thing.

My peas are along the back wall of my sun porch, so i have the bottom tied in a knot and stuck under the screen in the window to anchor it. I then tied up the pea plants to the trellis with short hemp loops until the pea plants have a chance to "grip" the trellis.

BABIES!

2010-06-03T23:06:00.004-04:00

I snuck outside and peeked into the swallow nest, I figured there would be babies since there is alot of coming and going of the mommy and daddy. and sure enough we have babies! I think there is 4 babies, I was really suprised they didnt want fed when i stuck in the camera! maybe next time!

SQUIRREL

2010-06-01T07:21:00.004-04:00

I love squirrels. Not only in a pan fried, but also playing in a tree. My Mom (who lives next door) has too many of them. But for the life of me I cant seem to get a squirrel one to come to my feeders. I have been trying for 10 years. I have put out a squirrel feeder, thrown peanuts in my yard, flat open feeders, you name it I have been on a quest to get a squirrel to come to my feeders.

Now its not like I live in town where there is lots of noise and commotion. heck the last place I lived was in town and you could nearly feed the squirrels by hand. But I am near TWO forests! one in front of me and one behind me. But yet Mr. Fluffy-tail was no where to be seen.

UNTIL YESTERDAY

Yesterday Morning during my normal
"whats going on outside the nature window" check I saw this!

and as an FYI when I did my check today in the rain, Mr. Fluffy-tail had brought along Mrs. Fluffy-tail for breakfast and a chase up the tree. Guess I will be watching for a video shoot!

Foggy Meadow

2010-05-26T10:55:00.004-04:00

This is a post purely on the beauty I have seen. Yesterday was one of the first true summer days. and it was followed by the foggy mornings that follow those days. I love the look of fog and how one moment in time its there and then as the sun rises though it how it just vanishes. I love how it "softens" the world and obscures anything except what is right in front of you. You wouldnt even know I have neighbors next door if you didn't know...

So this is a post on Photography. I take a lot of pictures, I rarely practice photography. I hope you can see the beauty in this as well.

Out the Nature Window

2010-05-23T08:32:00.002-04:00

As you can see today was a misty morning due to the heavy rains last night. and just as the day is starting to wake up is when my nature "area" outside my bathroom window gets busy.

This morning was particularly busy, it has since slowed down ( if you miss the breakfast rush you missed it) Of course we had the swallows dive bombing everyone. But they themselves were a sight to watch, remember the HUGE feather in the nest? well apparently, they had it get in the way of the door, they pulled it out then put it back and pulled it out and put it back, finally they got it situated.

We also had a red bellied woodpecker. But this was the one who caught my eye, A rose breasted Grosbeak. they are only here in the spring, they kinda pass through my area, I was glad to see that i did not miss the migration this year.

I also caught a glimpse of a squirrel (could it be really?) eating sun flower seeds under a feeder that a group of obnoxious crows spilled last week. We will be watching more for him in the next week or so!

Michelle's Solo

2010-05-19T22:11:00.001-04:00

I know this isnt a craft, But My daughter did this solo at the chorus concert last night and I thought I would share....

Another perennial bed done!

2010-05-18T07:06:00.000-04:00

Yes i got another perennial bed done. this one was full of weeds as well... take a year off and see what yours look like!

I still need to trim back my Vincia, its starting to over take everything and i am hoping my Liatris will be able to tolerate having a peony in front of them if not they get moved next year!

Swallow update

2010-05-17T11:31:00.002-04:00

I had to snoop, but at least i took my camera so i could snoop for you as well!

I didnt see how many eggs there are, i am betting three or four. but by the time I quick snapped this shot they were swooping on me pretty good so i made tracks!

Flowers

2010-05-15T07:06:00.000-04:00

My Pastors Wife is in the hospital having some surgery. Due to the nature of her condition her immune system has been compromised.

One thing i hated when my counts were down I coudnt have anything Raw to eat. there were many stipulations that goes right along with this. limited visitors, face masks, but one of the worst thing is No fresh floral. here you are in the hospital with people sending you flowers and you cant bring them in your room.

I made this silk arrangement for her in the hopes that they allow them in her room. if not, then she can see them when she is home in a few days

Rain

2010-05-14T07:57:00.006-04:00

Let me first tell you that my cats are INSIDE ONLY cats. They THINK they want to go out, but if I leash them they cower out side and beg to go back in.

We have been getting rain....

Snookie seems to think if we didnt have the rain she would have birds to watch. But, since I don't feed right now (nesting privacy) there aren't hoards of birds around anyhow. But as you can see she seems irritated with the rain.

Later on she just gave up staring at the rain being annoyed and decided to take a nap

All together!

2010-05-13T07:06:00.000-04:00

This is the rock Garden all together. It only sits on a dessert plate, and its very pretty on a table, and excellent conversation starter.

Catipitter

2010-05-12T07:06:00.001-04:00

What Garden is complete without a monarch Caterpillar?

Frog for my Garden!

2010-05-11T07:06:00.000-04:00

I found this rock and i thought it looked like a frog.
I painted it to go in my garden!