Neighbor gifts Part 2

These were so easy to make!!! Everyone loved them. Here is the picture so please feel free to print them out and make some of your own :)

What we used
-scrap wood, or a 2x4 measured and cut
-paint (red or green)
-sandpaper
-mod poge
-ribbon

We just cut the blocks then painted and let that dry, mod poged the papers on. Then I sanded them to give them a ruff look. Add a ribbon or bow to finish off the look :)

Good Luck!!!

Fun little neighbor gift craft

Side Waterfall Braid with Bow

Stephy did this cute hairdo for a party for me. 

First she did a top waterfall braid

Second a french braid below the waterfall braid

Third gathered all my hair and made a little bow on the side.

It turned out really cute and was super easy. 

Homemade Febreze

I live in an old house and for some reason when winter comes my house stinks and smells linger for days.  We are on a  tight budget. If I can find any way to save I am there... I use baking soda like a crazy person. When I ran across this Homemade febreze from http://starneslifefamilylove.blogspot.com I had to make it no question... It is so easy to make and super fast. After I made it and started to spray it ever I knew I was hooked... 

What you'll need:

1/8 Cup of fabric softener (I used Downy April Fresh)
2 tablespoons Baking Soda
Hot tap water
Spray bottle (27 oz. works great)

How to make it:
Pour fabric softener and baking soda into your spray bottle. Fill spray bottle with hot tap water and shake well. (make sure you put lid on 1st)  


Store-bought Febreze: $5.59
Homemade Febreze: $0.15
Total Savings: $5.44 or 97.3 %

Thank you http://starneslifefamilylove.blogspot.com/2012/06/homemade-febreze.html

Candy Cane Dust

Best Idea Ever!!!

We had a family event where we had to bring something to decorate cupcakes. 

I went outside of the box and bought a box of candy canes and threw them in the blender. 

Candy Cane Dust perfect for the christmas season!!!!

Cake Balls

Oh my goodness if you haven't had one of these your missing out...   

They are super easy and super yummy!

What You Need:

Cake (and things to make your cake)

Frosting

Chocolate Chips

Steps:

1. Cook cake like normal then let cool completely 

2. Put in a bowl

3. Start crumbling cake up

4. Make sure cake is crumbled all the way (no big chunks)

5. Add Half a container of frosting in

6. Mix with hands until hand can come clean

7. Roll Cake into balls.

8. Place on tray on chill for 5 minutes (no longer or chocolate will crack)

9. Pour chocolate in bowl and melt in microwave. Be carful not to burn

10. Mix in a little bit of shortening 

11. Place ball in chocolate and cover completely

12. Let chocolate cool. (feel free to put sprinkles on them)

And you are all done... We have done every cake you can think of... 

I prefer red velvet with cream cheese frosting and a white chocolate to coat it.

Chocolate chocolate with white chocolate is heavenly also...

Garbage Wreaths

Oh my goodness we (stephy) saw this cute wreath on pintrest and it was a must... Everywhere we looked we could not fine out how to do it so we winged it and couldn't be happier...

Our friend Jenn came over and also did this super super cute wreath but I didn't get any pictures of her doing her's 

Left: Stephy Middle: Jenn Right: Me

What you Need:

Walmart, Target, Any kind of white plastic bag. 

A wire hanger

Scissors 

Ribbon

We did this craft 2 different ways...

The 1st way we will follow Stephy on her journey :)

She took her bag and folded in half (with hanger in the middle) and tied it in a knot continue this step. You are going to trim all the extra bag off until you get a nice even look.

Jenn also did her's this way. I love it!!!

The 2nd way is the way I tried.

I just my bags into tiny little strips and then started to tie the knot on my hanger. After you trim all the extra bag until even. This way took a lot long then would have liked I started to use Stephy's extra bag pieces to save me time.

I am not going to say which way is better because they both turned out amazing! My way took alot longer and if I wouldn't have had their scraps then I would still be there cutting my bags into strips. They were both full and fluffy. 

Now this craft may be a little messy to say the least... I could not believe the bags and how they moved from one spot to another...

 Here is the final product.... We LOVE LOVE LOVE them...

 If you have any questions please ask....

Jolly Santa Cake

Still moving posts over but this is also a favorite in our family. The cake is super moist and yummy! My oldest son asked if we were going to make another Santa cake :) This is alot easier then it looks and so much fun to make... If you have never made cake from scrach this one is super easy :)

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2011

Jolly Santa Cake

Today my sister Kendra and I decided that we wanted to bake and make something amazing!!! We looked and looked throught cook books and couldn't decided what to make. Then we grabbed a book that was collecting dust on the shelf and found what we wanted to do...

Jolly Santa Cake

What you will need for this...

-1 (8inch) round cake, cooled
-1 (9inch) square cake, cooled
-Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting
-1 red gumdrop
-chocolate for the eyes
-Mini Marshmallows for the beard and fluffy stuff
-Anything you want for the belt we melted chocolate.

Step 1: Make The Cake
Your going to need a
9-inch square baking pan AND
8-inch round baking pan

Heavenly White Cake

2 1/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
3/4 shortening
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Heat oven to 325 degrees

Mix flour baking powder and salt; set aside in different bowl
Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add 1/2 cup of the sugar, beating until soft peaks form and set aside.

Beat shortening and remaining 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in flour mixture alternately with milk until well blended and smooth. Mix in Vanilla. On low speed, fold in egg whites. Beat till its barley mixed, this makes it light and fluffy. Pour into greased and floured pans.

Cut wax paper to place in the bottom of the pans and spray pam and sprinkle flour (this helps it come out easier)

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes

Cool for 10 minutes; remove pans then let cool completely on wire racks.

Step 2: Cut Out

I hope these pictures explain how to cut it out, we thought it was super easy. (Kendra did the cutting due to my past)

Step 3. Make and Frost

We just made basic frosting

Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting

4 cups powdered sugar (16 ounces)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp

3 tablespoons milk

Beat sugar, butter, milk and vanilla on low until well blended and smooth.

We doubled it. We made the first batch and left it white, the second batch we colored red for the suit and hat.

Step 4: Decorate

This is probably the fun step for everyone. Be creative and go out of the box. Really the only thing we did the same as the book was the red gum drop nose.

For the belt we melted chocolate and placed it in tin foil to shape it.

We use marshmallows for the beard and fluffy parts on Santa's suit. Gum drops for the belt buckle and shoes (the shoes didn't turn out at all).

Step 5: Enjoy

This is what it turned out like.... I thought it was pretty cute and T loved it!

Thanks to Baker's Easy Cut-Up Party Cakes

Sheep Cupcakes

I am still slowly TRANSFERRING all my posts to this new Outside of the blue box blog...  These cupcakes were a hit in my house hold!!! Who doesn't love Sheep?

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Baaah says the Cupcakes

We made cute little sheep cupcakes and then shared with our friends around town...

What you need to make this Sheep cupcakes...

-White frosting

-mini marshmallows (Wool)

-Big Marshmallows (Ears)

-bubble gum or pink marshmallow (Nose)

-m'n'm or chocolate chips (Eyes)

-----Spread your frosting. Cut your big marshmallow in half and then half again. Mini Marshmallows should be cut in half. Put wool and ears on and then eyes and nose. :) CUTE!!!
*Huge Thanks to Hayley Richins she gave me this cute idea to make sheep cupcakes!!!

CrockPot Chicken Nachos

I have been moving things over from My family blog to this Outside Of the Blue Box Blog... This is the ORIGINAL post with the comments ATTACHED. This is one of our favorites we are always making it for partys or just for our own date night. We eat it with a salad or just chips what ever you do its amazing... Enjoy!!!!

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2010

Crockpot Chicken Nachos

I love my Crockpot one of the best and used gifts I have ever used. We always have crockpot wednesday where we have too try something new, well this past week we have crockpot chicken nachos. Duncan's Grandma gave me the recipe, I will share it but let me know what you think if you try it.

Super Easy

CrockPot Chicken Nachos

2-3 large chicken breasts

1 small bag of frozen corn

1 can of black beans

1 16oz medium salsa

8oz cream cheese

Put the chicken on the bottom of the crockpot and add the corn, rinse the beans off in cool water and add too the crockpot. Then pour the salsa over the chicken. Let it cook for 4 hrs on low. Pull apart the chicken with a fork then add the cream cheese and let cook for another half and hour to hour on low. Mix together and serve on chips.

We added green onions, olives and bell peppers. Also too make the meal you can sever with sticky rice...

Here is what it looks like in the crockpot. This picture is when it was almost gone.

Diaper clutch

I bought I diaper clutch like this at a store in bear lake when I had my first baby.  I have love loved it and wanted to make one for my wee sissy for her new bundle. I thought it would be simple... it wasn't as easy as I thought....but now that I've done one I think they would be much quicker now.

Things you need:
Yarn
Crochet hook
Hot glue
12 sq. inches of fabric
Elastic
Huggies travel wipe pack

I apologize I didnt take pics of the steps I didnt really have any idea what I was doing and didnt know if it would turn out.

I cut the fabric to fit on top and bottom of the wipes container....I hemmed all the edges and sewed on the elastic bands to the underside of the bottom piece and hot glued the fabric on. I would use spray adhesive if I did it again it would be a much cleaner look.  Then I crocheted a couple really long chains and hot glued them around the border and finished with a crochet flower which I hot glued on.  For the travel changing pad I bought some table cloth fabric...and some " car insulation " is what it was called at the fabric store ....I did the inside-out seam...then put the insulation in and did another seam on top to make it look more finished that part of the project took all of 10 minutes the diaper clutch was the most time consuming. But now that I realize I would cover the borders with the crochet chains I wouldn't take forever pinning and sewing to get the fabric to fit the contour perfectly. Just glue on and border over the edge dur! Lesson learned. 

Creamy Ranch Potatoes

We love crockpot Wednesday. We have a lot of potatoes so I thought i would use them. What a Great choice. i really liked this because we had everything we need in my house that is my favorite way to cook

Creamy Ranch Potatoes
2lb. small red potatoes, quartered (or what ever potatoes you have on hand)
1 8oz pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 can of cream of chicken or mushroom soup
1 1oz env. dry Ranch dressing mix

1.Place potatoes in crockpot
2. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, coup and ranch mix. Stir into potatoes
3. Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours.

Enjoy!

Found in 365 Days of Slow-Cooking Pg 176

Black Bean Con rSalsa

I wanted something light for dinner so grabbed a can of black beans. I saw this recipe on the back and decided to give it a go. It turned out pretty good :)

 Black Bean Corn Salsa
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 cup chopped tomatoes
2 cups corn
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Salt to taste

I used a can of tomatoes and will never do that again I really like the fresh taste.
Also you can use canned corn but I used frozen.


Yes we will make this again and again...

Yard sale dress "dressed" up

MY SWEET LITTLE SISTER GOT THIS ADORABLE COUNTRY DRESS FOR ME AT A YARD SALE. 

I TOOK OFF THE BUTTON AND HAD FUN TATTING SOME LACE FOR IT

THEN HAD MORE FUN TATTING SOME LACE TO PUT ON THE SLEAVES AND AROUND THE WASTE.

SEWED THE BUTTON BACK ON AND DONE!

SHE GREW OUT OF IT IN POINT 5 SECONDS LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE. SO NOW IT WILL COLLECT DUST BECAUSE IT TOOK A LOT OF WORK AND I DONT WANT TO GET RID OF IT EVER. MAYBE SHE WILL WANT IT FOR HER DAUGHTER.