Spray Painting

I have been spray painting & I can't stop!!! Really I have been on a spray paint binge lately. Maybe it's because I bought some to spray the jars we did a awhile ago, and then because I had paint left over- I just started looking around to see what else I could do.. and I found a couple of things around the house that needed a face lift.


the first thing I found was the toilet paper stand in the bathroom off of the laundry room downstairs. It looked so gross, there were water spots all over & it had started to rust- I couldn't get it clean... so I was going to DI it but then I thought - Hey I'll try painting it


and look how great it turned out!! I love this spray paint I've been using. It's the Rust-oleum brand, the one with the hammered finish. You can buy it anywhere they sell spray paint.


Heres the finished project!! I thought it turned out pretty good, and I didn't have to buy another one- so that's always a good thing.


The next things I found were the heat vents.. really have you ever priced a heat vent?? They are so expensive, and I needed to replace quite a few of them... after 20 years they had started to look really bad. So I gave them a good coat of paint and........



They look like brand new ones!! They were easy & dried within an hour. So before you go buy new ones.. check out the spray paint isle.

Make your own foaming soap

How many of you use hand soap? Hopefully you all said I do!! Well today I am going to share with you something that I have been doing for a few years. You can make your own hand soap & it will cost you pennies to make a bottle. Here is what you need:


An empty foaming pump type bottle- I just use one from Bath & Body.
A bottle of your favorite liquid soap- you can use any brand-
And water
I like to fill the empty bottle about a 1/4 of the way full with the liquid hand soap. You can use less or more, it just depends how thick you want the foam to be. Then fill the bottle the rest of the way full with water-- that's it, you now have foaming soap for a fourth of the cost. I works just the same as the store bought and like I said if you want a thincker foam, just add a little more soap.

We also use this type of bottle to put our Eye make-up remover in and it comes out beautiful- no need for a cotton pad- just rub it onto your eyes & wash off. Here is how to make it:
1 cup water
1 1/2 Tablespoons baby shampoo- use the non-tear type
1/8 teaspoon of olive oil
Mix it together & pour into a bottle- it works great, but Jamie found out it doesn't take off waterproof mascara. :)

The Boiling Pot

Have you ever heard that old saying.... a watched pot never boils??? Well I don't know about you, but my problem is no matter how hard I try to keep an eye on a pot that I have on the stove..... it always boils over!!! Maybe the fact that I LOVE to cook on high has something to do with it too. Ha My Mom taught me a trick when I was young, and it really works. Just lay a wooden spoon across the pot while it is boiling, and it will keep it from boiling over. Really!! It's crazy I know, but it works... now I want to hear some tricks you have learned over the years... I know there are a ton of them out there, so come on and share a couple- I would LOVE to learn something new!!
and remember to try this the next time you are boiling something yummy for dinner...

Jello Covered Frozen Grapes

I was watching the news a few months ago and saw this recipes on their cooking segment. I have tried it and it is so DELICIOUS!!!! It's low in calories and will crave your sweet tooth. My boys love it!!!

All you will need are

Grapes
Lime Jello or any flavor will work (we tried Peach and it was good).
A little shallow bowl to put the jello powder in.
1. Wash your grapes. Pat them dry, but make sure to leave them a little wet so the jello will stick to them.
2. Pour your jello powder in a bowl and roll your grapes in the jello. Your hands will get a little messy and your might end up with some green fingers.
3. Once all your grapes are coated in the jello, place them in the freezer for a few hours. We put ours in the freezer for an hour and they were still a little soft. If you like them that way then you can do it. I like mine to be all the way frozen so I left them in for about 3-6 hours.
4. Once they are frozen enjoy!!! They are so good and would be great on a hot summer day.

Pies in a jar

Pie is one of my favorite things to eat... but I usually don't have time to make them. So these are perfect, because you make several of them up, put them in the freezer & take one or two out and bake them -- each jar makes a single serving, perfect for that " midnight craving" You will need to use wide mouth 1/2 pint jars for these cute little treats. First make your pie crust, then roll it out about 1/4 inch thick and cut circles--these will be the tops. I use a wide mouth jar lid to cut out the circle. You need to use a very small cookie cutter to cut a shape out of each circle-- this will help vent the pie as it cooks.. you can see how I did this with a star & heart shape in the pictures below


next take a small amount of pie crust and form it into a ball, press it onto the bottom of the jar & continue to press it up the sides of the jar-- adding more crust pieces as needed. It doesn't need to be very thick. The pie crust should come up a little bit above the top of the jar, then you will have something to press the top pieces to-- they should look like this......


then you place some of your pie filling into the jars- you can use: apple, peach, berry or cherry filling. It takes about 1/2 C. of filling per jar. Then put the circle of pie crust on top & press together with a fork, make sure you press the crust down into the jar- so that it doesn't go over the top.


then you can place the cut out shape on top, leaving a little bit of a hole to help it vent as it bakes.... like I have done in these two pictures.


or if you want you can leave the top crust off & sprinkle a crumble topping on the top-- I used a cinnamon oat topping on some of the apple ones. Place lid & a ring onto each jar to seal them & place them into the freezer..... put a label on each jar so you will know what kind they are, unless you like to be surprised!


then when you are craving pie.. take them out of the freezer remove both the metal lid & the ring. Then place the jars onto a cookie sheet and put them into the oven. Turn the oven to 375 and bake for 50-60 minutes. Do not pre-heat the oven before placing the jars inside. Enjoy!!! They are sooo good with a scoop of ice cream on top! Oh Yumm

Father's Day

I always wanted to make those fun double colored swirl cupcakes... so last year I found some decorating bags on line that were split into two sections-- I don't remember where I found them :( It was pretty easy to use, you make 2 different colors of frosting & fill each side with a color and pipe it on..... it's amazing.... love how they turned out. It makes a very pretty presentation.


These chocolate covered potatoe chips (I used pringles) were a hit with the boy's, they were their favorite--- the only complaint was that I didn't make enough Haha! There are a few white chocolate covered pretzels mixed in there too.



This is not the best picture--- I am not the photographer in the family! :) But these are root beer candies.... they are everyones favorite



and always... striped drinking straws...


and what Father's day would be complete without rootbeer in a bottle???


The tags I used were found at livinglocurto.com

Cake Pops

Oh how I love cake pops. They are so good, and pretty easy to make. I usually make a batch and freeze 1/2 of them, then they are even better--- because when you are craving one you just have to take them out of the freezer & chocolate dip them.. and ta-da they are ready to eat in minutes. They will last in the freezer a couple of months... so if you have never tried them you really should... here's all you do...

Click the magic button for the printable version!


Make your favorite cake, then cool it & crumble it up into pieces. Take 1 can of frosting & use 1/2 of the can for one cake. This is why I make 2 cakes and use the whole can of frosting-- then freeze 1/2 of them for later.
You really want to mix the frosting into the cake well- I use my hands to mix it in. Then take a cookie dough scoop and scoop the mixture, then roll into balls. Put them into the fridge & chill for a few minutes, then you dip each one into chocolate. There are 100's of ways to decorate them. Drizzle with another color of chocolate, or roll into sprinkles. I put a wooden skewer into these and dipped some into chocolate- sprinkled the tops with multi colored sprinkles and dipped some into pink colored white chocolate then rolled the bottoms into the sprinkles. Put them in sm. candy liners & they look darling!! Each cake will make around 40 cake balls Enjoy--