Mason Jars

A Hod Podge of Mod Podge

 Mod Podge my new friend.  We had a rough start but came to an understanding that as long as I am patient and hurry at the same time we will get a long fine.

 

  I wanted to attempt a project for my friend.  So after looking at a few video's on you tube I went to work.  (in hind sight I should have watched a few more video's)

Glue on plate - check.  Brush for glue - check. Papers cut into strips - check.  Frame from dollar store - check! 

(may i suggest a damp cloth to wipe your glue covered hands on I'm pretty sure I should not have wiped them on my table cloth)

 

This much took me about an hour to do.  I finally got the hang of it and the second half went a lot faster.

 

 After this stuff dries it looks pretty darn cool.  I saw some pictures where they had glued some cloth onto some pumpkins....I think I'll do that next.

 

 Tada!

 

This was supposed to be REALLY easy, just glue the picture to the tile!  As you can see I didn't quite know how to get the wrinkles out.  By the time I noticed how bubbly it was the glue was to dry to move the picture very much. After a lot of tugging at it I finally got it to look pretty good. 

 I really love this and I want to do it again.  Tiles at Home Depot, a calendar and don't forget the MOD PODGE!!!

Apple Butter Heaven

Apple Butter.....this is one of those tasty treats that cannot be purchased at a grocery store. Yes you can actually buy it BUT it needs to be made at home to really have that heavenly taste. My grandma Mortensen always had homemade apple butter in her pantry and just the smell of it brings back happy memories.

I started out with this small amount of apples but right away I could tell I would need more. If you are going to all the work (it's really not that much work but don't tell anyone) you might as well make a BIG batch.

Apples happen to be on sale at Vons for .50/lb. If I had more jars I would have done a few batches and given them away for Christmas! As it is I think I'll end up hiding my precious few jars from even my kids.

I have this handy dandy apple peeler but I have figured out how to use it and my first poor apple was pretty much shredded to pieces. I finally figured it out and we were on a roll. It was so great to just turn the handle and see my apples magically cored and cut. If you don't have a magic apple peeler then it will take you a bit longer. OHHHH don't forget to take the little sticker thingies off your apples. They will ruin your peeler!

Throw the cores away!

This is my new best friend. (thank you Lucille!) It is an electric pressure cooker. It will cut down your cooking time by like 70%. We have cooked EVERYTHING in it this past week, chicken, pork, beans, carrots, potatoes, it is wonderful. Just make sure you add a little water, like 1/2 a cup or so to keep your food from drying out.

Apples need to be cooked until they are super soft. In this pressure cooker it took 60 minutes. I took them out and put them in my crock pot. I had to hand whisked them as I just broke my hand mixer (stripped the gears trying to beat up my potatoes during thanksgiving) and I didn't want to have to wash my kitchen aid mixer. (did I mention how lazy I am :) )

Add LOTS of brown sugar I added 3 cups. 3 Teaspoons of Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp Nutmeg and 1 tsp cloves. That's it!!! mix all together, let simmer for an hour or so. It will look a little runny but when it cools it thickens up.

Put it in your jars, bask in their beauty, pat yourself on the back and then make some toast, biscuits, OR pancakes (we'll have to wait till Steve is out of town so we can have pancakes for dinner)
I just have to add that it is a good feeling to know I can make something that my grandma made. It makes me happy. Good luck Apple Butter Making!

Second Wreath made from newspapers

This is my second attempt....it looks good right! What you don't see in this picture is that the red spray paint does not cover the paper as well as the gold. If you look closely you can tell what's on sale at Macey's. I should have used the black and white part of the newspaper. I think it would have covered better. Also I hung this in a tree to spray paint in two separate stages and I had just taped the wire on the back so it fell and the bottom got all smashed up. I had to spend a little time trying to get the wrinkles out. The puzzle pieces were Ethan's idea and I'd have to say are my favorite part!

Paper Wreath

I was looking for things to make out of old newspapers, since I have a ton and waalaa I came across these wreaths. Now I am NOT a crafty person, I do not have crafty things in my house and I don't really have the patience to do them so why, you may ask yourself would I want to do this?

Great Question!

Here is me trying to explain how to do what should be a really easy project. First find the scissors, mine have legs and they think it's funny to hide from me. I did find them and after getting a piece of cardboard for the base I went to find my scotch tape....needless to say I ended up using our packing tape gun which made this craft a bigger pain in the butt than I had intended.

What would have been the very best would have been those tape things that go on your hand for wrapping presents.

This is a small salad plate that I used for how big I wanted my wreath, I thought using a small plate would mean a small wreath......shows you how much I know. The inside ring I made with a cup (that I accidentally melted the handle off in the dishwasher. See I knew it would come in handy and am so glad I didn't throw it away)

Notice the bread knife? Well my scissors did not work very well on the cardboard so I had to saw through it with my bread knife! Just FYI it worked GREAT. *disclaimer be careful not to cut your fingers off.







You need to cut the paper in half for the outside ring and roll them up and tape them, lots and lots and lots of them.
The instructions said to then staple the tips about 1-2 inches from point. I tried that on half of them and then stapled them to the card board until I realized I might as well just staple them once to the card board. Now I'm not sure that once I get it hung up it won't all fall apart but since i'm going to give this one to my friend, I think she'll just feel bad for me and glue them back on so I'll never even know :)













So then you do another layer I think looking back
it really would be easier to glue them.

I needed a few shorter ones for the third row so I just cut my halves in half. Rolled them and stapled them.
































So the next dilemma was what to do for the center of the wreath. I brought out some gift wrapping bows but they looked terrible. I rolled some material up and tried that but again ugh. So finally I just crinkled up some paper and hot glued it to the center... You may wonder why I didn't use the glue gun to glue the rolled paper to the cardboard instead of the stapler....I just wondered the same thing as I was typing this. Sometimes I worry about my thought process.....





















I taped some wire to the back . BAD idea This will not hold. You will wake up in the middle of the night wondering what that sound was. You'll either lay in bed to scared to go look and thus not get a good nights rest OR you'll have to wake up your hubby and make him do it. He may not be that happy to learn it was just the wreath that fell off the wall.

I would suggest using your handy dandy hot glue gun and just glue the wire to the the cardboard :)



WAALAA!!

TADA!!

BRAVO!!

SHAZAM!