Altoid Gun Case

A while back when I did the Altoids tackle box I did this little guy as well. My dad loves to hunt and do target practice so I thought this would be a great gift to give him. I would basically refer to my earlier post for the Altoid Tackle Box or Tool Box for further instructions. The only difference is the I used black for this one. I also used my homemade bake clay to make the gun and bullets. Refer to Clay or Model Magic post for ideas on what to do for that.Well hope everyone is having a great weekend!


 

Pets and Motion Sickness

My mom wanted me to bring my new kitten over so she could see her and so I was totally all on board for the challenge of bringing her over there. One thing that I noticed differently though was she was extremely whinny. I know this is normal on a car ride because I've experienced it with my other cats, but they stopped at some point and settled down. So I thought it only right to find a remedy so she could feel superb on the ride back. 

My husband and I shop at a local holistic pet store here. It is amazing and I've never been disappointed. Well they have all these oils used for different things. I thought maybe they would have one for this and they did! Yay! Unfortunately it's ten dollar for a very small bottle, but I figured what the heck. So later that night we gave it to her before the car ride home and it worked like a charm. My goal is to figure out how to make it myself so I won't have to spend so much next time. Here are some of the things that are in it. Ethanol, distilled water, aspen, gentian, larch, mimulus, and rock rose. 

Hungry Caterpillar Creation

Along with my love for Disney there is my huge appreciation for anything Eric Carle. I'm currently trying to create a little memorial for angel's in our home. I created this with them in mind but I thought this would be cute for any Eric Carle fan. Its made of homemade model magic and then I just shaped them into the shapes like the book. I added the block as something extra to add their names. It will take about about a day and a half to finish but the end result is worth it.


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Mickey Mouse Napkin Holders

I love Disney and one of my goals is to make every room have some kind of Disney in it. Unfortunately it gets very expensive and so I am now trying to find ways to create my own magic. :) This craft is so simple and easy that you could probably create multiply characters to compliment your Disney dining room or next party. Just choose the color pipe cleaner of your choice and mold. For Mickey I made an eight shape first and then added two small circles.  Have a magical day!

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Whipperberry

Fourth of July Flowers

I am a fan of reusing in general but I love reusing magazine's the most. I always have a ton on hand and find plenty of things to do with them like this next project. I basically just painted paper roses with acrylic paint to make a patriotic centerpiece. For instructions I basically will send you to a previous post of mind about Magazine Flowers . Once your done with all your roses paint and add your stems and leaves. I used floral wire and some extra floral leaves from a previous project. I then found an old glass bottle to use as a vase and added some white hearts and shells as a filler. Get creative and find what makes you happy. :)




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Simple Sweet Home

        

Homemade Corn Dogs

So to celebrate our 3 year anniversary in May my husband and I had a carnival theme anniversary celebration! I was bummed to find out later that I could have made my own corn dogs. :( Oh well it was fun making these with my mom later though. It's always great to have an extra pair of hands in the kitchen when you need them. Especially veteran ones. :) I panicked cause at first the batter would not stay on the hot dogs but my mom was able to get it to stick and that is why some look better then others in the picture above. They all tastes great none the less. Bon Appetit!

• 1 cup of flour
• 2/3 cup corn meal
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. dry mustard
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 3.4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• Canola Oil for frying
• 8 hot dogs of your choice
• skewers

In a large bowl gather all of your dry ingredients together. Now add milk, buttermilk and egg, and whisk until smooth; now set aside. Pour oil about two inches deep into pan and wait until it reads 350 degrees before using. Skewer hot dog, dip into batter and then dip into the pan for about 3 minutes until golden brown. We didn't have skewers so we just used tongs to dip into the batter and lower into the pan. Another great idea would be to make little tiny ones for parties for kids or just for anytime in general. :) Once you've pulled out the corn dogs place them on a plate lined with paper towel to soak up the excess oil. When ready distribute to the lucky food tasters with sauce of their liking. :) Enjoy!

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Linked to Adorned From Above

Turkey Hill Tea

I don't know if anyone notices the commercials for Turkey Hill Tea, but I sure do. All that ice just feels like its coming out of the screen and makes me want to buy their tea. I thinks its the fact that I live in the desert and its so darn hot right now. Well a couple days ago I finally found their tea. It is so delicious and I wouldn't have it any other way at the moment. :) Well off to another craft or two. Time to get ready for the Forth of July and more upcoming birthdays. Have a splendid day!

My own Crayola creations.... well sort of

I recently noticed a lot of neat things made out of clay. For example I bought my mom this cute mug made out of clay or all the cute jewelery pendants.I have three sources to run to when I'm making my at home version of clay. One is just a basic version, another is a polymer clay version and the last and most prized of all is the Model Magic.

This first one turns out some where in between clay and playdough. Its got the tough texture of clay but when you smooth it you'll notice  the playdough aspect. All you need is 4 cups of flour, 1 cup of sugar or salt and 1 1/2 cups of water. Basically mix all of the ingredients so that it will become your clay. Add food coloring if desired. The cool thing about this one is you can bake it and create endless creations. All you need to do is preheat the oven to 350° and when ready bake for one hour. I made a hungry caterpillar with that batch.

The next batch I haven't really tried yet. I got the recipe though from ehow.com/info_8751630_homemade-polymer-clay.html.  I kind of did but I tweaked it cause I didn't have all the stuff or couldn't find it at the moment. I would try sticking with this one by the recipe.


Finally my favorite one of all, Model Magic! I would like to thank southernasbiscuits.com for sharing such a great recipe. I remember playing with this as a child and also bummed because it costed so much. All you need is 2 cups of baking soda, 1 cup of cornstarch and 1 1/2 cup of water. Basically combine all the ingredients in a pan, stirring til smooth. Now place pan on medium heat. Stir until it starts to boil and then continue to stir to remove the lumps. Set a pan cover slightly over and cook til they look like mashed potatoes. Stir ever now and then to avoid burning.  Remove from heat and place into a large bowl. Wet a kitchen towel and place it over mixture to cool. Once cooled dust counter with cornstarch and knead. Tada!  Model Magic! I'm working on something now. It was really easy to work with and way better then clay. Downside you have to wait a whole day for it to dry.

Well hope this gives you some ideas and sends you off creating or helps with that next big project.

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New kitten

I've been wanting a kitten for months now and I finally get my wish. It was actually out of the blue and probably the best surprise ever. My neighbor was looking for a good home and my husband looks at me and is like do you want her? Me: Heck yes! We already have two cats and this would be our first female. The greeting process is long and makes me anxious but its worth it. Santana is becoming a real pal. While Trouble not so much. He has hissing fits and I'm hoping that goes away soon. Its funny how you have a million names picked out for your pet or child when you don't have them, but when you finally get the chance to have one you can't think of a single one. That happened with Nutmeg. I knew her personality and the color of her fur but nothing seemed to jive. I was at work eating something with Nutmeg in it when it dawned on me how well it would work. She's a little bit of spice and looks like it too. :) Well hope everyone is enjoying there day! :D

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Target Cupcakes

My husband works at the Target Warehouse here and they are throwing a bake sale for charity. Of course I was ready to jump on board with the project. I basically just decided to make a vanilla cupcake with a cherry coke and vanilla frosting. They came out rather nice. I especially loved how the cupcakes look like a firecracker.

Vanilla Cupcake

• 1/2  cup butter
• 2/3 sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• Red food coloring

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Set out your cupcake holders as well.

First mix the sugar and butter together until fluffy. Now add each egg one at a time to the mixture and then add the vanilla. 

Put aside wet ingredients and mix together the dry ingredients. Slowly, alternating between flour and milk, add to the wet mixture. Make sure to end with flour.

Split the batter into to bowls. Add the red food coloring into one of these bowl and mix well. 

Alternate, starting with red batter first and ending with red batter. If you want about 24 cupcake I suggest making double the batter. I ran out of my batter during alternating and this was no bueno. Now you can place your cupcakes in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. When finished wait to cool and add icing.

Cherry Coke with Vanilla frosting

• 5 cups of confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• 2 tbsp. cherry coke (this can very on your preference)
• Red Food Coloring

Blend your butter first and then start slowly adding all of the other ingredients except the food coloring. Split the icing and add food coloring to one. When I piped the Target logos on I started with the white because there was less of it and it would be easy to wrap the red icing around it. I'm not going to lie it wasn't easy, but I know for a fact I am getting better. :D

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Thirty Handmade Things

Rocky Road Ice Cream

So I recently inherited or more like got as a gift a ice cream attachment for my Kitchen Aid Mixer. Ever since then it been an ice cream frenzy over here and boy am I glad with this hot weather. One of my first attempts of course was Rocky Road because of course it is my fave! Well now I am doing it again as a request for father's day from my father in law. Since it turned out so great I thought I would share it all with you!

• 1 (14 ounce can) sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups of heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup low fat chocolate milk
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup marshmallows

In a medium saucepan over low heat, cook and stir condensed milk and cocoa until smooth and slightly thickened, 5 minutes. Remove from heat , and allow to cool slightly. Stir in heavy cream, chocolate milk , and vanilla. Refrigerate until cold.

Pour mixture into the canister of an ice cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Stir in nuts and marshmallows halfway through the freezing process.

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Father's Day

If your having trouble figuring out what to get for that wonderful father in your life and you feel like your running out of time well you've come to the right place. For the handy man or the fisher man in your life here is a perfect gift and it doesn't cost much at all. A tiny tool or tackle box made out of an Altoids box. Most of the stuff you can probably find around your house if you are and avid crafter or he's obviously a  handyman. All in all it only cost at  most 5 bucks to make this.

• Altoids box
• small can
• felt (any color)
• acrylic paint that comes with the gloss in it ( I used tucsan red)
• tackle items (optional)
• two small blunt sheet metal screws ( I apologize for not the exact size. It didn't say on the envelope.)
• piece of card stock
• hammer
• flat end screwdriver
• nail 
• can opener
• bottle open
• scissors 
• needle nose pliers

Santana waiting patiently to help. Hehe  

First off you want to start by painting your box because this will take the longest to do. After it drys each time you will have to apply a coat until you reach your desired look. 

Now while you are waiting for that to dry. You can begin on the handle. I tried to find a handle that was small enough to fit this box and I was not very successful. Apparently you can go wherever they sell replacements for boat handles and they have handles that will fit a box this size. I'm not sure if it's because of where I live but I could find none. Any who that is where this back up came into play. If you are prone to accidents I suggest wearing glove just in case the can slips you don't cut yourself. I used a can opener to open the other side and then I used a bottle opener, the pointy side to help punch holes on both sides to get it rolling for me to cut. Then I just cut straight across and all the way around both sides with heavy duty scissors. Next I very carefully took the needle nose pliers and folded the can in once and then I folded it in half. I used the pliers to press everthing closer together. Now you can shape the piece of metal into a handle.

Of course I really didn't take picture of this next part and for that I am sorry. Now that the two main pieces are completed you are ready for assembly. Get your nail and hammer so that you can make the holes for your screws to go in. After that take your screws and start to screw them in by hand. Grab your flat nosed screw driver and screw them in part of the way in. You want to have room to push the handle under. Once you have placed the handle screw the rest down. 

If you were doing a tool box, congratulation you are officially done. Now you can fill it with whatever goodies dad would like. If you were doing the tackle box we only have a little more to go stick with me. 

Cut your card stock so that when you fold it in half  and place it in the box it looks like an upside down T. You can place as many as you'd like. Remember to glue them down or if you prefer to remove them later don't. Now cut a small piece of felt for the box so that it can lay on top of your tackle items. Finally fill with treasures and give to the lucky recipient. Mine will be going to my father-in-law.:)