Quilting Tip

For all you quilters who use batting from a roll, don't you just hate it as you unroll the batting and it is wrinkled and crinkled?  I had a hard time straightening the batting out to use in my quilts until I finally stumbled upon this idea:

I cut the piece of batting to size, then throw it in the dryer with a wet towel.  The amount of time you need to "dry" it depends on how wrinkled it is.  I think I put this in for about 10 minutes and it came out pretty dern good.

                                                                         BEFORE:

 

AFTER:

 

 

Hope this helps!

 

 

 

Traveling Ring Holder

I just love pinkie rings and have to take my favorites with me when I travel.  Here is the easy way that you too can take your rings with you without worrying about losing them:

Find a small sturdy box that will fit all the rings you want to take:

 

Cut a piece of foam to fit the box and cut slits in it every half inch or so:

 

 

Insert the rings, close the lid (I usually put a rubber band around the box when I slip it into my suitcase) and there you go.

 

 

 

I keep the rings in the box when I am at my destination - keeps them all in one place and easy to choose from.  Easy and cheap, as I had all the parts in my craft room.

 

 

♥ Love this quote ♥

“I take nothing for granted. I now have only good days or great days.”

Lance Armstrong

Plant slow watering system

Have you cut some bottles for another project and then wondered what to do with the tops you have left over?  I made some plant watering bottles out of a few of mine and they work great!  I started with the cut off tops:

I then went to a planter I have that is lined with coconut fibers and pulled a small batch of fibers off to use in these tops:

 Stuff the fibers into the neck of the bottle, being careful not to cut yourself (voice of experience talking...).  You want to pack the fibers in fairly tightly to slow the water down as it drains through the neck of the bottle.

Place the bottle top next to a plant you need to slow water, fill it with water and let gravity do its work.

If the water drains too quickly, stuff more fibers into the neck.  After all, this is a s-l-o-w watering system.
Hope this works for you as well as it does for me.

Valentine's Day Ideas

My friend Kim came over today to show me how she makes the confetti popcorn. Naturally we made it in Valentine's Day colors:

We used red melting wafers and dark chocolate melting wafers with Valentine Day colored M&Ms for a very festive look. This time I took step by step pictures, so here goes. Using Orville's Tender White popcorn, we popped several bags and spread them out on waxed paper inside cookie sheets (easier to move them out of the way as they are cooling).

We melted the wafers and spoon drizzled the red chocolate and then the dark chocolate over the popcorn. Lastly, we added the M&Ms and set the trays to the side to cool while we made melted peppermint trays and bowls (see my earlier post).

While the popcorn cooled, we made peppermint trays but in the shape of hearts. Kim left hers as a tray while I made mine into a heart shaped bowl.

When the popcorn was cooled, we bagged it up to make cute gifts. If I had made a slightly larger heart bowl with deeper sides, it would have been cute to fill it with popcorn or Valentine candy. We also made candy cane hearts, but you can find plenty of tutorials for them on Pinterest so I won't go into that here.

                                                          Have a very Happy Valentine's Day!

Confetti popcorn

My friend Kim makes this popcorn treat as Christmas gifts each year. I love the idea and by changing the colors used, this can be a great gift for any occasion. I can't offer a step by step pictorial as she made it without me, but I can walk you through the steps.

She starts off with melting wafers (Hobby Lobby - use a coupon) and Orville's Tender White popcorn.

(This picture was right side up when I imported it...???)

Kim says to be sure and use the Tender White as it works best.

Melt the wafers (using a melting pot is the best way) and if you are starting with the white wafers, add food coloring to get the color you want. These wafers also come in colors. Have your wafers melted and ready to go so that when the popcorn is popped, you can work quickly. Once the pop corn is ready, spread it out on waxed paper or a very large cookie sheet. Drizzle the melted chocolate over the popcorn, adding M&Ms as you go. Be sure and add the candy while the chocolate is still hot so that they stick to the mixture. Once everything is cooled, break into pieces, place into clear bags, tie with a ribbon and there ya go - cute and easy gifts.

Of course you can use as many different colors as you want and any kind of candy or nuts or marshmallows to make this a unique concoction. I see it in pink and red chocolate with red/white/pink candies for Valentine's Day.

Interchangable Flip Flop Decorations

Now, this one just makes me laugh.  Have you seen the flip flops that come with a velcro strip on the strap  - they cost about $35.00.  Then you buy the decorative velcro strap to adhere to the flip flop - they cost about $15.00 per set.  I love the concept but they are way too pricey for me - bottom line, I am too cheap to pay that much for something I can make myself.  And here is how I did it:

I started out with a pair of flip flops I bought from my niece's cheerleading program at school.  I had scraps of denim and velcro on hand so I was ready to begin.  You need a pair of flip flops that has a nice sized strap so that the velcro has something to adhere to.

The velcro I had on hand is the type that has the sticky stuff on the back.  I found that I still needed to hot glue this strip on to the flip flop strap as all the pulling on and off that you are going to do will need that extra glue to keep the velcro on the flip flop.

At this point, I took some black acrylic paint and painted the green area that the velcro did not cover.  As you will see at the bottom of this post, I also made a set of straps with zebra ribbon and the ribbon was smaller than the green strap.  This way, the green will not show since I have painted it black.

I cut four strips of denim, slightly wider than the strap of the flip flop and longer, as I decided to gather the denim I was going to use for my straps. I did this on the sewing machine.  You can do this step by hand or not gather it at all (I did not gather the zebra ribbon later on).  After I gathered the material, I stuck the other half of the velcro on the back. Again, I sewed them together as the heavy denim needed extra help in staying on the velcro.

Now, I made some flowers.  I cut out 8 circles about 3" each, and one smaller circle, about 1".

I hot glued two circles together with just a dab of glue, glueing the wrong sides together.  This gave me 4 two-sided circles with which to make one flower.

I folded the circle in half, added a dab of glue to make it stay together, then folded it once more into fourths, glueing to make it stay together.

When I had all four circles glued into small bundles, I glued them to the small circle and then fluffed.

You can see a drop of glue right in the middle of the flower - I pinched this area together to make it close somewhat

This is what is looks like from the back

After you make the second flower, it is time to assemble all the parts.  I put the decorated straps on the flip flop and tacked them together with a very small drop of hot glue. Be careful not to glue the top layer of velcro to the bottom layer - the whole point is that you want to be able to take off one decorative strap and use another. Then, I placed the flower where I wanted it, and again, just used a small dab of glue to fix it in place.  At that point, I took the entire strap/flower off the flip flop, turned it over and glued the heck out of it. (The top one is the zebra ribbon one I will talk about in a minute - but you get the idea)

And the fronts:

                                                         Now aren't these too cute?

One basic pair of flip flops, as many different looks as you want to make - for very little money!

I did actually spend money on a spool of zebra ribbon (used a coupon at Hobby Lobby) and made the second set of straps.  I did not gather the ribbon for these, and the glue on the back of the velcro worked well to keep it snug and secure.  I made the flower a bit differently - I used the sewing machine to gather along the edge of the ribbon.

 When I had a long piece ready, I started to glue it to a 3" cardstock circle.  I made two circles of ribbon and then glued a red glass piece to the center.

These are the glass beads that you are supposed to use in your flower vases - $1.00 will get you a whole bag of them at the dollar store. Naturally, I have hundreds of all colors hanging around my house...  The next steps are the same - just glue your straps and flower together and have fun.  I will be making some sets using gaudy baubles or silk flowers come summer time, I am sure.

Hope you have as much fun making these as I did.  Now, I just have to wait for summer to get here so I can enjoy the heck out of these.

Chicken Pockets

This is a great way to get rid of left overs.  I will take you through the steps I used to make chicken pockets, but keep in mind, you can add anything (clean out the fridge) and they will still be good.

I actually cooked a few chicken breasts in my crock pot as I had no left overs to use.  They cooked all day long and by the time I made dinner, they just fell apart into tiny pieces.

I used crescent rolls - I left two triangles attached, pinched the seam together and then rolled out the section of dough into a rectangle.  I cut the rectangle into two halves, ending up with a total of eight squares to work with.

Then I started piling on ingredients.  I wanted to use shredded cheese on the bottom, but found I didn't have any.  So, I used chive flavored cream cheese, then added my chicken on top and finished with a slice of ham.  If I had had any veggies, I would have put some in each pocket. 

 I folded the corners up to the middle and squeezed them all together.

When they were all finished, I placed them on a cookie sheet and baked them according to the instructions on the tube of crescent rolls.  Don't they look good enough to eat?

Enjoy with a salad, fruit or a bowl of soup.  An easy, quick lunch or dinner.  Or, if you stuff them with scrambled eggs and ham, that would be one terrific breakfast!

Pancake Poppers

This is a great breakfast idea - you can even make them in advance and nuke them to reheat when you need them.  However, I find that even if I store them in the fridge, I usually pop them into my mouth before I have a chance to heat them up.

I use the Express RediSetGo machine but I think if you have one of those specialty machines for making cake pops, that might work as well.

I take the easy way out and use the small packages of premixed pancake mix (adding egg and milk).  I mix it up in a measuring cup but then trasfer the batter to a squeezy bottle (Wal-Mart $.99) for easy distribution.

My favorite stuffing is the link sausage, maple flavored.  You can use any kind of meat you want, ham, crumbled bacon, crumbled sausage - just be sure to cook it before you make these.  If you use the link sausage, I find that cutting each link into 6 pieces works out the best.  That gives you 36 pieces of sausage (6 links to a sealed package) and the mix makes 36 mini pancake poppers.  If you use crumbled meat, remember that you shouldn't mix it into your batter because then it won't squirt out through that small hole when you fill the wells. 

Start by heating your machine and then spraying it with Pam or some such oil.  I put a small amount of batter into each well to anchor the meat, add the meat, then fill the well with more batter.  I then close the lid and set the timer for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, I turn each popper over and cook for another 5 minutes.  Below - this is right before I turned them over to finish cooking.

When the timer goes off the second time, they are ready to eat.  Spray wells for each batch as that prevents the poppers from sticking.

Serve with a small side bowl of syrup, sprinkle with powered sugar, or eat as is.  You will find they don't last long at all.

I have also made these with corn bread mix and cooked crumbled sausage.  Goes GREAT with chili or soup.  You can also use cake mix or brownie mix or muffin mix to make small snacks.  Enjoy!