Coaster Tiles!

I have seen many posts on Pinterest and craft websites for Coaster Tiles!

Put simply, they are bathroom (or kitchen) tiles that you attach scrapbook paper and use for coasters!

When George and I bought this house, I looked all over the place for coasters and never found the right ones!

It was a sign! Now I can make my own! Even more of a sign, George removed some of the white back splash tiles from our kitchen last year when he put in the new window, and he STILL HAD THEM!

I thought I'd have to buy new ones, but crafting and recycling........ sign me up!

Since our tiles are used, there was some outstanding grout around the edges. Georgie so kindly scraped it off for me. :)

Since the coasters had a smooth shiny surface, I spent some time scuffing them up. I porous surface takes glue much better than a smooth one!

For the paper, I chose two different but coordinating patterns.

Cutting the paper to size was by far the hardest part. If you try this, no doubt it will be easy as pie for you! I am a bit special when it comes to cutting in a straight line! I ended up placing the tiles upside down and cutting, that way they'd be bigger and need to be trimmed rather than being too short.

After all the cutting, I used my favorite Mod Podge to glue the paper down to the tile. Make sure you get the edges really well!

After letting them dry for 20 minutes or so, paint the Mod Podge all over to seal them from the top.

Don't forget, it's completely normal for the Mod Podge to be white when first painted on, but it dries clear and shiny! When they are drying, watch for edges curling and hold them down for a few moments, if they do.

After they are dry, take them outside and spray with clear coat.

Make sure you get the top and the edges!

After that dries, cut some felt and attach it to the back of the coasters with a hot glue gun.

And then you're done!

Perfect coasters, just my style :)

Mom's Famous Frosting!

I was very fortunate to spend 2 awesome years with George's mom, Linda, getting to know her and learning from her.

One of the many amazing things I am grateful for? Her recipe box!!!! She had a fantastic variety of recipes that were just so, her! I am so lucky to have been exposed to (and eaten!) many of her signature dishes! She was always so willing to cook for anyone, anytime, and she always always made me food without onions!!! She knew how much I hated them! She understood my pickiness! She encouraged me to try new things (deep fried fish and tartar sauce, sweet potatoes, olives) but laughed with me when I hated them!

One way that George and I love to remember her is by cooking one of her favorites and enjoying it together!


Today I am sharing with you her awesome frosting recipe!

It is not only the yummiest frosting that you'll ever have, it's also the easiest to make!

Here's what you need:

Cool whip and instant pudding mix!

THAT'S IT!

**you need a little milk too**




Simply empty the cool whip in to a bowl, add the instant pudding mix and 1 cup of milk, and mix!

I told you it was the easiest to make, ever! Wait until you taste it! It's creamy and smooth but not overly sweet!!! It's the perfect compliment to your faveorite cake recipe! Linda always served this over "poke cake" - a cake that's infused with Jello! I'll show you that recipe some other time.

It comes out pretty thin when you first mix it, but if you put the bowl in the fridge for a few hours or overnight, it will firm back up to the consistency of cool whip!

Everytime I serve this frosting, people rave!

I have also mixed about 1/2 cup of peanut butter in and put them on chocolate cupcakes and it was fabulous! I have always wanted to make other varieties, like using chocolate pudding mix or adding almond extract, the possibilities here are endless!!!

When I made this the ther day, I didn't have a cake to frost, so I made a little yummy treat!

Graham crakers with strawberry slices, chocolate chips and frosting!

A little indulgent, but, yum :)

Go try some for your self! If you make a new flavor, be sure to come back here and tell us all how it turned out!

I promise to keep sharing Linda's recipe's with the world!



Egg Cups!

Morning Y'all! (I was born in Texas and that alone gives me the right to say y'all, lol).

While I have no true problems with getting up early in the morning, I do have my routine down to a science and sleep until the last possible second! That doesn't leave a lot of time for breakfast, so I bring something with me and eat it at work. For years that has been a cup of yogurt - in the summer I'll bring homemade granola that I buy at the Farmer's Market to add to it -  but it doesn't get any more diverse than that!

I realize that breakfast is the most important meal of the day so when I saw my friend Andrea had pinned this on pinterest, I had to give it a try!

Photo is from Pinterst and the original recipe is posted at http://thesimpledelights.com/

First I preheated the oven at 400 and sprayed a muffin tin with cooking spray
Then I used Carl Budding ham pouches. Those pouches are 90 calories and have 10 thin slices in each pouch. I used two slices per muffin cup.
Then I cracked an egg in each ham cup.

I sprinkled some salt and pepper in each egg and cooked for 12 minutes.
After 12 minutes they looked not quite done to me, so I left them in for 2 more minutes.

Take note of this: I was wrong :) (george, don't expect me to say that again) they were done at 12 minutes because I like my egg yolks runny and these yolks were firm.

Georgie put some cheese on his right after they came out of the oven, it melted nicely!

Here's my yummy breakfast!

This recipe with the Carl Budding ham clocks in at 98 calories per cup!

I made 10 of them so I could put a stash in the fridge/freezer and take them to work with me.

This week on Monday, I warmed up my egg cup for a few moments in the microwave and it was just as yummy as the first time!

I'm so excited because it's an easy to make protein packed breakfast!

Yum! What do you eat for breakfast?

End Table Refinishing!

Now I am not trying to say that I am a Goodwill expert but.... Hello, my name is Shawn and I am a Goodwill addict.

"Hi Shawn, welcome to the group." Thank you, thank you!

So, it seems to me that on most Sunday's furniture is 50% off at Goodwill....

A while back, during our usual every other Sunday or so trip my mom and I spotted this end table for only $5!!!

I called George and he said, buy it! My plan while at the store was to take it home and paint it a nice dark brown chocolaty kind of color. When George took one look at this table he had other plans!

He wanted to strip off the unknown layers of paint and stain it instead! I was up for the challenge!

To strip the layers of paint, you just bush on the stripper, and the paint begins to bubble like the shot on the right.

Then scrape off the layers of paint! You may need to scrape as much as you can, then paint on more stripper, then scrape and so on until you most of the paint off. After that, George sanded the wood down to a nice smooth surface. Now, I'm calling this a DIY project but in reality, you need someone who knows a little bit about stripping and sanding. George is an exceptional carpenter and he has every tool imaginable. If you asked him, I'm sure he would say the sander that he used was invaluable. It would have been much more difficult to sand it by hand with paper alone.

Here is the little table with 9 lives all ready for stain! This guy had lived many times before, underneath the taupe color that it was when I bought it, was a deep dark blue and a muted green! We chose a dark rich red stain to coordinate with the other pieces in our living room.

After he was finished staining it, I applied the first coat of clear poly and he scuffed and did 2 more coats!

And here's where this little guy lives now in our living room!

What do you think? I Georgie did a good job, hey? Not just with the staining but also by indulging my thrifting, upcycling, blogging ways! Thanks Georgie. :)



Homemade Mozzarella Sticks!

It's recipe time!!! I've recently discovered the wonder that is wonton wrappers and eggroll wrappers. You can find these two items at the grocery store in the specialty produce section (by the eggplant, artichokes, etc.). Bascially they are pre-cut squares of dough! You can make just about anything from them, eggrolls and wontons are just the beginning!

I've already made, pizza puffs (put the wonton wraps in a mini muffin tin and fill with pizza sauce, toppings - then pinch closed and bake - I'll blog post them sometime) and ham and cheese eggrolls cooked in the deep fryer (if you live where I do - I was copying the Round Ones from the Portside). Both recipes turned out amazing and were so easy!

Today we are making one of my favorites, Mozzarella sticks. Now, I have made these two ways: one version with eggroll wrappers in the oven and one with wonton wrappers pan fried in olive oil, today we are going with the 2nd version because they were much yummier and easier to eat!

You need:
String Cheese
Wonton wrappers
Egg wash (just an egg that is beaten - I actually didn't have any eggs today so I used melted butter).
Olive oil
Pizza Sauce (for dipping)

Start by unwrapping and cutting in half all of your string cheese.

Then place a pice of cheese in the center of a wrap.

To wrap them, first you fold the bottom corner up (like the picture on the right) then fold each side to the middle and roll up.

I wasn't able to take pictures of the folding process, so I found you this lovely diagram at http://polishvegetarian.blogspot.com/ 

When you get them all rolled up, use the eggwash (or melted butter if you are out of eggs!) to seal the last corner - make sure you get some under the corner and on top.

Pour enough olive oil in the bottom of a frying pan so that the cheese sticks can sit in the oil but not so it will be sumberged. - I like to use olive oil because it is better for you, but you could use vegetable oil if you wanted. You can also use a deep fryer if you have one.

Heat the oil on medium, this way the oil will be hot enough to brown the outside but it will also cook slow enough to melt the cheese.

When the oil is hot place your cheese sticks in the oil, fold side down. This way you are sealing that last fold in right away and don't have to worry about them unrolling when you flip.

When the bottoms are nice and golden brown, use tongs to flip them. Some cheese will ooze out when it's cooking (unless you are an amazing wrapper!) and that's okay.

When the 2nd side is browned you are all finished!

Serve them with some warmed up pizza sauce for dipping!

George gobbled them up at lunch time!

He also took the left overs to work with him! I'll let you know for sure, but I am guessing these are going to reheat pretty well!



Do you have any other ideas for eggroll and wonton wrappers?

:-)

Shawnie

T-Shirt Flowers!

And now it's time for the long awaited blog post for Tshirt flowers!!! These are the flowers that I used on my Yarn Wreath.

Once again this is a Pinterest inspired post (follow me - Shawniepatrica) and here is the site that I used to make them my first time.

Okay, here's what you need:

A tshirt in the color of your choice (this project needs about 2 inches across the bottom of any Tshirt - both front and back - and maybe a little bit of a 2nd row depending on the size of the shirt).
A flower pattern on card stock - as you can see from mine, it does not need to be special :)
Some kind of attachment piece, for this I am using a pin.
Felt.
A hot glue gun.

Using your pattern as a guide, cut out 9 squares of fabric.

Next you will cut flower shapes out of your fabric squares, I like to cut these in stacks of 3. Don't worry about making them all perfect.

You'll see on the right that I also cut out a small circle of felt. And that nothing I have cut, is perfect. :)

Put a dab of hot glue on the center of your felt.

You are going to glue your first 8 flowers in 2 layers of four. Fold each flower in half twice, making a heart like shape.

This is your bottom layer.

Place a 2nd dab of glue in the center.

Glue the 2nd layer on top of the first but place them so that the petals will be off center from each other.

With your final flower, fold it in half as you did the first 8 but then roll it into a cone shape.



Use another dab of glue in the center and place the cone on top so that it stands upright.

Place a tiny bit of glue on a 2nd layer petal, then press the cone and the petal together like the picture on the right.

Do this will all four of the 2nd layer petals. 

Lastly, glue your pin to the underside of the felt and you are done!

Now the next time you need a cute flower for your hair, as a pin, to decorate your favorite Tshirt scarf, all you have to do is go to your closet, pick an old shirt and whip one up!!

I've now made: scarves, bracelets, necklaces and flowers (and was gifted a lovely headband, thank you Samantha Elizabeth), I wonder what else I can make out of old Tshirts?

Have a wonderful day!

--Shawnie