The Crackled Wood Effect Experiment

All you need for this project is a piece of old furniture, a sander, two colors of latex paint, lacquer, and Elmer's Glue. Because you will probably have to experiment a bit to get the technique down, I recommend going to Wal-Mart and purchasing mis-tints on the paint aisle. Wal-Mart is a great place for finding paint that was mis-tinted because most of the people who end up running the paint mixer at Wal-Mart haven't been trained. You will probably want to get a darker color for the undercoat and a lighter color for the top coat. The dark coat is what will show through when the paint crackles. I used some leftover paint from painting my entry area last summer and found an off white color mis-tint on the paint aisle.

 I followed this tutorial to get the crackle effect here.
Basically it is a 5 step process
1. Sand the furniture if needed. I had to strip off a sticky black veneer that would not come off with the sander.
2. Paint the first (darker color) coat and let dry completely
 3. Use a sponge brush to cover the piece in a coat of Elmer's glue. After all my experiments, a medium coat seemed to work best. Let the glue set up for a few minutes. This particular tutorial says until "tacky" but all the tutorials I looked at had a little bit different take on when the glue was ready to be painted over. You do not want to let the glue dry completely.
4. Apply the second coat of paint (lighter color) over the glue. This is the tricky part. Too early and it won't crackle right; too late, and it won't crackle right.
5. Cover with a protective coating of lacquer or other clear protectant

 I had to redo the table 5 or 6 times so I would definitely follow the tutorial's instructions about practicing on another surface to get the timing right for the second coat of latex before trying it out on an entire piece of furniture. Also, this table was especially challenging because it was a cheap press board affair and did not have a wood grain so I had to make sure to paint the glue and paint in the same direction in long swipes to create a wood grain effect. The tutorial also says to use a sponge brush. I concur. I tried a traditional paint brush on my first round. No bueno.

 Not a bad new look for a cheap table that was ugly, shiny black.

 I think it's going to fit right in.

White Easter Bunny Cupcakes

My daughter's school program allows them to bring a treat for their friends on the school day closest to their birthday. Since her birthday is so close to Easter this year, I decided to make some kind of treat with an Easter theme. After fruitless searches online for something cute and unique that I thought the kids would really enjoy, I decided to come up with my own thing and created these bunny cupcakes.

You will need:


-1 box white cake mix
-1 jar of white frosting
-chocolate chips
- tiny pretzel twists

-pretzel sticks

-pink jelly beans

-mini marshmallows

-gel icing (color of your choice. I used pink with sparkles because it was what was available)

-cotton balls

-Elmer's Glue 

-cupcake papers

Bake cupcakes following box mix instructions. Let cool. Using Elmer's glue (or school glue of you brand of choice), glue cotton balls to cupcake papers to create bunny tails. Frost cupcakes with white icing. Take mini pretzel twists and press upright into the cupcake on top of cake above the bunny tail to form ears. Add chocolate chips for eyes and a pink jelly bean for nose. Take four pretzel sticks and press to two into the cupcake on each side of the jellybean nose to form whiskers. Draw a mouth with gel icing. Press on or two mini marshmallows onto cupcake below icing mouth to create teeth. (I used two but mouth looked a bit crowded. I think one marshmallow for "teeth" would work better.) Waalah! Amazing bunny cupcakes the kids will love.

 

The Four P's of Christmas Presents

Presents are one of the most stressful things about Christmas. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE giving and receiving gifts, but that pressure to figure out just the right gift for someone without succumbing to the retail super storm of Christmas commercialism can be overwhelming to impossible. However, I've figured out some things this year that I want to pass on that I think make giving and the Christmas season more meaningful than ever.

I always get a kick out of preachers who have four or five points to share and they've come up with a word for each point that starts with a certain letter. I guess the alliteration is a bit amusing to my English geek heart. I get an even bigger laugh when they come up with a word that starts with, say, the letter D for every point but one, but then they have to pick a different word for the last point because they just couldn't think of a word with D that summed up that last point. Kind of like the person who came up with who, what, when, were, why.....and, oh yes, how. I digress. I only mention this because I feel like a preacher having come up with the four P's of presents in order to share my theory of making gift exchanges less stressful and more meaningful. Here they are:

1. Pausing to Remember--Last year, a wonderful family friend gave my daughter a nativity advent calendar. It was a meaningful and very simple nightly event for our family, and it helped us focus on the reason and purpose for the season. This year, I ordered an advent calendar that has scripture verses to read each night. My daughter looks forward to opening the door in the calendar each day, and it is a wonderful way to remember the light Jesus brought into the world and focus on satisfaction and fulfillment in Jesus rather than things; things can so easily become the focus of the season without time to reflect on why we celebrate.

2. Paying it Forward--Each year we try to give something to those who are in need. It reminds us of of the difference between "need" and "want" and keeps us thankful for what we have. Every family will have their own cause or charity that appeals to them. Some of our favorites are Operation Christmas Child, the Samaritan's Purse Gift Catalog, and Salvation Army.

3. Passing it On-- If you have a cute three year old that everyone wants to shower with presents (and not just at birthday and Christmas), there must be a time to clean out the unused and out-grown items hanging around in bins and drawers and corners. This is not about giving junky stuff to people who can't afford new toys. This is about cleaning out what we don't want, need, use, or have lost interest in and passing on a usable item in good condition, which allows someone else to enjoy the things that no longer play a role in our daily life. Having my daughter go through her things with me and pick out the items she no longer wanted or used was a great teachable moment. Not only did I have a chance to talk with her about giving, I was also helping her understand the importance of limiting the amount of possessions she has. In a couple of words: Don't hoard! This is also a great exercise for me with my personal and household belongings.

4. Promoting Family (and Friend) Relationships--Finally, Christmas is about spending time with people who are important to us and letting them know they are special. A bought gift can be very meaningful, but there are so many simple (and useful!) gifts that you can make for family and friends. One of my most treasured Christmas gifts is a cloved orange (click link for video on how to make a cloved orange) an aunt made for me a couple of years ago. I put it in my linen closet to keep the sheets fresh. Before I received that gift, I was having to rewash my entire linen closet about every three months to get rid of the musty smell that would build up. No more! The cloved orange keeps my sheets and blankets fresh; even better, they actually smell good! And the orange has lasted for two years. Talk about a small, but thoughtful, gift that paid big dividends! The point is, gifts don't have to be elaborate and break our pocket books to help our loved ones feel loved, remembered and appreciated. Making Christmas gifts is also a great way to keep my kid entertained, spend time interacting with my daughter, and it is meaningful to family members that she helped make the gift.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Homemade Christmas Card Ornaments

My husband's grandmother is an avid crafter. A few years ago, she told me about a way to use old Christmas cards to make ornaments. To do this project, you will need:

1 Styrofoam craft ball--size of your choice

1 or more old Christmas cards

a plastic container big enough to put the Christmas card in

water

flour

a small cup or container to make flour paste

paraffin

a straight pin

ribbon or twine


If you want to make the kitty kat ornament I made, you will also need:

2 fuzzy sticks (pipe cleaners)

wiggly eyes

tooth pick

hot glue

black felt

and an additional Styrofoam craft ball



Too make a simple round Christmas card ornament:

Put the Christmas card in the plastic container and soak it in water. When the card is soft enough, you should be able to peel the picture layer away from the card backing.

1.Mix flour in water in a small cup or container to make flour paste. Tear the Christmas card front into small pieces or strips and glue them onto the styrofoam ball with the flour paste. (This process is much like making the newspaper shell of a pinata over a balloon.) Cover entire styrofoam ball with pieces of Christmas card sealed on with the flour paste. Let dry.

2.When ball is completely dry,take a straight pin and pin on a loop of ribbon or twine for a hanger. If I use twine I tie the twine around the pin close to the head of the pin and then press it into the styrofoam ball. I also sometimes put a dab of hot glue on the head of the pin for extra hold.

3. Melt paraffin in a double boiler. (Or you can do what I do. Put paraffin in a quart mason jar. Set jar in a pan with water and bring water to a boil over medium low heat to slowly and safely melt paraffin. Then you don't have to try to get the leftover paraffin out of a pan and into something else and clean off the waxy mess. You can just let the paraffin cool in the jar, screw on the lid, and store for future use.) Dip the ornament into the melted paraffin to make a protective coating over the Christmas card design.

4. Let cool. Hang on tree or give to a friend.

If you want to make the kitty kat:

1. Do step one, but make two styrofoam balls. I had to use two Christmas cards, on for each ball.

2. Insert a tooth pick into the base of kitty's "head" as if you were creating a neck. Insert the other end of the tooth pick into the second styrofoam ball that will serve as kitty's body. Make sure tooth pick does not show. Reinforce with hot glue. Then attach ribbon or twine with pin as in step two, inserting the pin into the "body" ball, just below the "neck" area.

3. Follow step three, dipping entire kitty ornament into paraffin. If you use the glass jar method, you may have to dip one end and then the other as kitty, if he's as big as mine was, won't fit inside the jar horizontally.

4. Let paraffin coating on kitty cool completely. Then hot glue wiggly eyes in place. I created a nose and mouth by put a piece of Christmas card that looked like a nose and mouth where I intended kitty's face to be. If you don't have a card that works the way you could glue a button or a fuzzy ball on for a nose and draw on a mouth with a black felt tip pen. If you draw on the mouth, do this BEFORE dipping in paraffin.

5. Take one fuzzy stick and cut 4 approx 1-1.5 inch pieces. Insert wire of fuzzy stick into the face around the nose, two on each side of the nose. Reinforce with hot glue.

6. Cut a length of fuzzy stick and insert it into the appropriate "tail" area of the body. Reinforce with hot glue. Bend and twist to make tail curl like a cats.

7. Cut 4 aprrox. 2.5 inch lengths of fuzzy stick for legs. Insert them into the appropriate area of the body for legs. Bend into an L shape at the ends to form feet. Reinforce with hot glue.

8. Cut triangles for ears from the black felt and hot glue to the top of kitty's head.

Waa lah! A kitty kat for your Christmas tree!

Pomegranate and Pine Nut Tuna Salad

It's pomegranate season! I remember the first time my husband and I tried a pomegranate. They were on sale, so we thought what the heck? We'll give it a shot. Shortly thereafter, pomegranate juice was splattered all over my husband's shirt and the walls of our little apartment. It looked like a bad version of a mock crime scene. After lots of scrubbing and cleaning and a permanently stained shirt, we swore off pomegranates for years. Finally, a friend clued me in to a great tip for opening pomegranates. Follow the link to this video.

Now that opening a pomegranate is no longer an ordeal, all I have to say is YUM! This unusual fruit adds a unique spin to many different foods. Most recently I decided to try pomegranate in tuna salad. A little weird I know, but soooooooo good!

Here my recipe for Pomegranate and Pine Nut Tuna Salad:





Two cans of albacore tuna in water, drained




2-3 heaping Tablespoons of mayo (add more or less to make it the moistness and consistency you prefer)


1 1/2 Tablespoons of pine nuts


seeds from half a pomegranate



1 teaspoon of salt (or to taste)


1/2 teaspoon of pepper (or to taste)


Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Serve on sliced bread or with crackers.

Perfectly Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

 One of the things my family looks forward to the most during the fall season is toasted pumpkin seeds. Digging all of the glop out of the center of the pumpkin when carving jack'o' lanterns is completely worth it for a handful of these tasty treats. However, I've always felt like my toasted pumpkin seeds didn't quite measure up to my expectations, though I followed instructions from various websites to make them. A few weeks ago, I was at a going away party for one of my long time friends and another friend of hers brought toasted pumpkin seeds that were phenomenal! The following tips for perfectly toasted pumpkin seeds are gleaned from her instructions.
First, remove seeds from a pie pumpkin.The pie pumpkin seeds are smaller and tastier than those from large carving pumpkins. Soak the pumpkin seeds for 24 hours. Periodically rinse the seeds in a colander to wash off as much of the slime as possible. After the soak, drain the seeds and spread them on rimmed baking sheets. I had to put mine in a roasting pan as I currently don't own any rimmed baking sheets. The girl I talked to at the party used coconut oil and sea salt on her seeds. They were very good, but I prefer a more savory taste for my seeds, so I used olive oil and sea salt on mine. The amount will depend on how many seeds you have to toast. I used 4-5 tablespoons of oil and about 3 teaspoons of salt. I had seeds from three pumpkins, thus the large amounts of oil and salt. Stir the seeds to coat with the oil and salt.

 Toast the seeds at the low temperature of 275 degrees. It will take at least an hour to toast them. It took about 3 hours for mine to be completely toasted but I imagine using a rimmed baking sheet instead of a roasting pan would drastically cut down on this time since the seeds would be closer to the heat source in the oven. Be sure to periodically stir the seeds for even toasting while they are in the oven. They should be a nice even brown color when they are done.

Let cool or a bit and enjoy!

Fun and Simple Fall Project

My daughter has wanted to make bird feeders since she saw a bird feeder project in a book this summer. Now that November has come, despite our record breaking 87 degree day, it seemed the appropriate time to do the project. The bird feeder from the book seemed a bit complicated and more like something she'd enjoy making when she's a bit older. So, I did a quick search on the internet and found this website with a quick step-by-step for making a bird feeder out of a toilet paper roll.* The project was simple enough that my 3 year old was able to do most of it on her own, and it took a short enough amount of time that it didn't loose her attention span. We hung the feeders on our small maple tree and our mulberry tree. Hopefully some interesting birds show up soon...but, if not, at least it the project kept her busy for the afternoon.

*Note: We used a fruit and nut mix birdseed for our feeders.