DIY Glass Painting

A girl in my neighborhood made her own plates a few months ago. Drew designs on them with colored sharpies. You couldn't tell they were white plates that had been drawn upon. Then I saw on pinterest glasses with dots on them of all different shades and I thought I would try to make Christmas designs. Here is my attempt. 

Using red acrylic paint and the end of a paint brush I made three small dots next to each other in the hopes that they would be holly berries. I tried about a dozen different variations of green leaves and ended up wiping them off every time deciding I liked the plain red berries best. 

I wanted something green to go with the red so I tried Christmas trees using the end of a paint brush. I loaded it up with paint and started out small and then moved to a thicker base until it resembled a tree. I tried adding white dots for snow, didn't like it. Then tried a gold dot on the tree top for a star. Didn't like it. So just kept the trees by themselves. 

Once painted I put them in the oven. Turned it on to 350 degrees for 30 minutes and let them heat up, cook, and cool. I haven't tried to wash them yet but supposedly this will make them permanent??? I don't know. I'll let you know about the paint. Maybe that only works with Sharpies. Good luck if you tried it. It was kind of fun to experiment with different designs on the glasses to see which worked best.

Easy Mini Pizza Muffins

Holidays are stressful. Dinner sometimes takes a back seat. I saw a version of these on Pinterest and thought I would try them out and see how they worked. They were fast and easy and actually tasted pretty good. 

Try these easy pizza rolls/muffins and forget about rolling pizza dough and the mess that goes with making your own pizzas. All you'll need is pizza dough from a can, ( I used the generic store brand and they tasted great) mozzarella cheese, pizza sauce, and your choice of toppings. I used pineapple and ham. 

Make them yourself for a quick dinner or let the kids help you and everyone can make their own "pizza". These would also be fun for appetizers for a Christmas/New Years/Superbowl, or children's party.

Anyway use them how you like. Good luck and have fun! 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Spray/Grease Muffin Tin
• Seperate dough into equal pieces and place in the muffin tins- 1 regular can gave me 6 "muffins"
• Try and pull the dough so it covers the whole tin opening
• Add pizza sauce-I used about 1 table spoon of sauce in each muffin but its really up to you
• Add toppings of your choice
• Top with cheese
• Bake for 10 to 15 minutes- Mine were done after 12.
• Let cool and serve.

Footprint from Salt Dough

Wanting to have a baby imprint of little feet and toes I found a salt dough recipe online and made an imprint of my babies feet to put in his room.

Here is the link where I found the recipe and instructions. Give it a try if  you have kids of any age. It is also fun to do with hands.

Have fun!

My Finished Product! 

http://www.mysweetarts.com/sweet-buzz/

Sweet Ingredients!

2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour (do not use self-rising flour)

1 cup of salt

1 cup of water

2 teaspoons of cream of tartar (optional: cream of tartar makes dough more flexible)

1 tablespoon of oil (vegetable or mineral is fine; optional: oil makes the dough easier to knead)

Mix ingredients well, kneading the dough for 10 minutes. If the mixture is too sticky, add flour. If too dry add a bit of water. Please note that the dough should be stiff (not runny or soft; otherwise air bubbles will form during baking). Roll out dough on flat, smooth surface and form desired shape about 1/2 inch thick. *Hint* You can use a shallow bowl to shape into a circle. Once desired shape achieved, place on a foil-lined baking sheet.Press child’s clean foot or hand into dough. Press hard enough to make a deep impression without going through to the bottom of the dough. *Hint* If child bears weight on legs, have child bear weight on one leg in dough for a good impression.

Place dough foot/hand impression into 200F oven for 3 hours (check on to ensure it doesn’t burn; turn around half-way through baking). If dough is not completely dry, set out to air dry. Please note that you do not have to use the oven and can have your salt dough air dry over several days.

You can customize the design many ways:

• Use straws to make symmetrical holes for hanging
• Pre-color dough by adding food coloring to water
• Paint after dough is fully dried (a nice toddler/pre-schooler art activity)
• Write child’s name and date with a sharpie or paint after baking process

The footprint/handprint plaque can be displayed in different ways: hang on nursery wall, set inside deep/shadowbox frame, or as a decorative plaque for everyone in the family to enjoy.

Depending on how much dough is used for each plaque, this recipe can make at least two plaques if not more.

SeaShell Wreath

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love the beach, waves, sand, sun, and shells. So when I saw a sea shell wreath for sell I really really wanted it. However when I saw the price tag I decided I didn't want it anymore. I thought that surely I could make something similar. So I did. It was fairy easy.

Supplies:

• You'll need a foam wreath base from any craft store.
• Seashells of your choosing. I used all white clam type shells.
• Hot Glue Gun and Glue
• Ribbon
• *Paint- Optional- but see note below

Directions:
Pull out your supplies. Heat up your glue gun and pick a starting point on your wreath. Once you have placed the first shell fill in around it to cover the wreath. You can do a pattern or just place them as you go.





Helpful Tried it Hint:
*The wreath base I chose was green. Beforehand I assumed my shells would cover all of it. But where the shells don't form perfectly around the wreath because they are hard firm objects there are places in mine that you can see through to the green foam. I wish I would have thought to paint the foam white first. As I glued I did my best to cover the foam with the way I layered the shells but if it would have been painted white the inside of the wreath would not have shown through so much. See picture below. You can see into the dark parts. I need to redo it.


Final Product
Here is the final product. I really like it. It is currently hanging in my bathroom. I get comments on it from visitors all the time wondering where I bought it. I love it. Good luck if you try it. I may try another one with mini star fish or a mixture of small shells not just white.

I Tried It - Black Bean Taco Soup

I know there are plenty of women out there that try new recipes, decorate their homes, do crafts with their children, sew, garden, dress themselves immaculately all in one try. Everything they touch seems to turn to gold.... easily. I'll admit there are times when things I try work out just as I hoped. But many times things don't work out well AT ALL. Its like those pins on Pinterest with a perfect example and then a not so great example, and it says "Nailed It". These are some of my favorite Pins because they are so so true.

So in an effort to both try new things and hopefully save someone a headache I'm going to try things from Pinterest, Magazines, the internet, and other blogs and let you know how I fared. Maybe it will help you as you try something similar so you can either not try it or try it with my suggestions. Or maybe you are one that turns everything to gold and will wonder why on earth I had such a hard time with such a simple task. At any rate hope you find something comical or useful. Either way. ;)

My first "I Tried It" comes from the Six Sisters web site. http://www.sixsistersstuff.com
In an effort to eat healthier meals I was looking for freezer meals to prepare in advance so I could cook them the day of without doing any food prep other then turning on the crock pot. My hope was to make several freezer meals, cook them as needed, and have dinners and leftovers for lunches. I stumbled upon their recipe for Black Bean Soup http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/search/label/Freezer%20Meals

Made a list, went to the store, followed the recipe. Two days later when I needed it I thawed it out, cooked it in the crockpot and what do you know. It was exactly as easy as it sounded. Easy ingredients, easy to prepare, cooked up perfectly. Provided dinner for 2 for 2 nights and lunch for a day. Easy. Perfect. Tasted great. Loved it. Highly recommend trying it! I didn't have sour cream or guacamole but it still tasted great. We did eat ours with Cool Ranch Doritos instead of regular chips. Thank you Six Sisters! I wrote down 3 others they are currently in my freezer waiting to be cooked.

Black Bean Taco Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef (or ground turkey works too!)

1 medium onion, chopped
1 package mild taco seasoning mix
1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn
1 (16 oz) can black beans drained and rinsed (you could use kidney beans or pinto beans)
2 (14 oz) cans stewed tomatoes
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilis

Directions:
Brown meat and onion, drain. Let meat cool for a minute, then dump into a resealable gallon-sized freezer bag.

Dump the remaining ingredients into the bag, mix together, and zip bag closed.
When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on HIGH for 1-2 hours or LOW for 2-3 1/2 hours.

Serve with tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole.