Another new trinket

One of my favorite things is collecting new treasures for my kitchen. I even like to create things that give my kitchen caricature. My new treasure that my hubby got me a William Sonoma yesterday was a honey dipper. :D I don't think I've ever had so much fun with honey. Then the other day I decided to make my old starbucks frappuccino bottles into semi old milk bottles. This blog gave me the idea, but off course I changed it to my liking http://www.thecakeblog.com/2011/06/milkaholic-milk-bottles.html. Her's look really good, but I just wanted to keep the original tops of mine instead of black. I also got vintage looking milk bottles way back in February for a Valentine's idea that I had. I wanted to drink out of them with cute pink swirled paper straws. They were bigger then I anticipated and I had to attach a plastic straw to inside of the paper one so we reach the bottom of our glass. :) I guess I should of got the creamer one's. Anyway I knew that after I used them for that they would make a great piece for my kitchen. I got them on amazon, but I'm sure you can get them anywhere. At the moment Target has some cute colored one that have lids. They also have these cute ceramic creamer holder's that look like milk carton's. <3 My sister got me a gift card to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and I picked a box of salted caramel chocolates that had a copper look bowl and spoon on it. Of course I keep the little trinket and hung it in kitchen. I probably could have put it on a key chain as well. Do you ever have that problem were you accumulate so many spoons and other baking utensils that you just don't know where to put them? That is what happened to me, but I didn't want to but one of those cylinder holders. That's when I came up with the idea to use and old oatmeal container for my bigger utensils, and coffee can for my smaller. Everything else stays in the draws considering there are some funking looking gadgets out there. I also used a small mason jar for our silverware. I did this mainly because we live in an apartment and none of those separators fit in the drawers and I didn't like our silverware floating around. To add some life to the coffee pot I download and printed some labels I found to give it a slight vintage look.  I got my labels from here  http://lilyboxdesigns.blogspot.com/search/label/DIY%20and%20Crafts.  So I just happen to have the world's most awesome cat! Why your probably think? Remember Ratatouille? Well I have Catatouille . Every time I'm in the kitchen cooking up my lasted concoction, he is right there on the stool next to me watching me cook. I even bought him a little chef's hat. :)

Making old into new

I always like to find stuff around my house that I can transform and make new before I believe it's a total lost cause and give it away. I was on pinterest the other day and found these jewelry boxes that had been refurbished that looked exactly like a jewelry box I had when I was little. Of course that's when all the sand paper and paint all started to fly out and I started to make my masterpiece. I got the idea from http://happydayvintage.blogspot.com/.  You basically can get creative with it. I used magazine paper from my favorite cooking magazine on the drawers, which I put on with modge podge. Of course before all the painting and adding of wall paper, magazine paper etc. you have to sand it down. Unless of course you bought a plain wooden jelwery box to begin with.

                       

                  

Going crafty on instrumental supplies

So the other day I was with my husband (who happens to be a musician) at a music store and we were just browsing. We got to talking about sound reducing in drum sets and they just happen to have such stuff. We already had to pad for the top of the drums, which now that I think about it I probably could have made too, but that's ok. It was the bass drum that was making the most noise so we needed a cloth like item to absorb the sound more. When they showed us what we need a light bulb went off in my head and I knew I was going to make it myself instead of spend $25. Basically I just measured the piece of felt to the bass drum and to my desired length of course. Then I stuffed with batting and tada! It works wonders and I paid less then $5 for it. :)

Another wedding brings on more crafting

 My youngest sister is getting married and I'm all a buzz with ideas of what to do for this or that. Well the other day I came across this idea for making a ornament that you put a wedding invitation into and give it the bride and groom as a gift. Of course I was all up for the task and thought it would something she could cherish forever. I of course was being lazy, but at the same time couldn't wait to do the project so I decided to do it in a lightbulb instead of a glass ornament. I like how it came out though. :) I got the idea for the ornament at this blog http://christyrobbins.blogspot.com/2011/07/wedding-invitation-ornament.html and I got help with the task of the light bulb from http://blog.freepeople.com/.

St. Patricks Day

In honor of St. Patricks Day I decided to make ties for my cats. I got the idea when I saw a picture of a cat on etsy.com wearing on and it just looked so cute and I thought hey I could make that myself. Ha couples week later and still trying to perfect it. Its partially because I'm beginner sewer and my slip stitch isn't the greatest. Anywho here are the pictures and websites that helped me get my start. http://www.purlbee.com/fathers-day-ties/ I used this link, but of course made everything smaller. I'm also debating the long part like an actual tie or putting an elastic to attach to the collar. http://www.etsy.com/listing/60927669/size-l-customized-pet-neck-tie?utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Image+-+http%3A%2F%2Fwww.etsy.com%2Flisting%2F60927669%2Fsize-l-customized-pet-neck-tie&utm_content=etsy_finds_022411&utm_campaign=etsy_finds_022411 This is were I got the idea. Now you can either do it yourself or buy it here.

I also wanted to incorporated more different styles of baking into my life so I decided to make an Irish soda bread as well. :) It came out really well for my first time. To go with the bread or just because I wanted to have some I made blackberry jam. <3 I don't know if that is a proper this to do but if it tastes good and makes my tummy happy then it can't be wrong. I got the recipe out of Paula Deen's March/April magazine.

On my way to the big farm!

      The past few months I have been very busy making more homemade things. So far I have been very succeful at it.  I've also made cleaners, toothpaste, conditioner, hair detangler and my very own garden repelant. Since I wanted to start  a garden in one shape or form I decided on getting a meyer lemon tree. My father-in-law has the same one and it smells and tastes amazing. It basically makes other lemons just look plain ordinary.
      Then as a part of cutting my cost on household cleaning and hygiene products I made my own hand soap and laundry detergent. I got the recipe for the handsoap at http://familyoffarmers.blogspot.com/2011/11/liquid-hand-soap-diy.html. I like it cause you can choose any bar of soap you want and the end result is a gallon of liquid. Then for the laundry detergent I went to http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2011/02/make-it-homemade-liquid-laundry-soap-1.html. I shared my soap with family and still had a lot left over.

         Then of course I couldn't forget my furry kids that I love so much too. I've made cat and dog treats. I would have to say that the dog treats were a complete success while the cat treats not so much. I've made two kind of dog treats, peanut butter and honey and the other pumpkin and parsley. Both were clear winners. :) I got the pumpkin ones http://simmertilldone.com/2009/10/07/retriever-retriever-pumpkin-eater/ and the peanut butter http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/family/pet-advice/brooklyn-dog-bites-dog-food-recipes-3. When it came to the cat treats I felt like they were to hard for my cats to break apart, but you can be the judge http://sewdarnthrifty.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-tattoos-home-made-cat-dog-treats.html.
       Finally, since sometimes everyday food items that we want or just need tend to get expensive I decided to make my own. Now if I only I had my own cows, chickens, pigs and goats and I would be set. :) Strawberry jam is so easy to make and so delicious. Now all you need is 1 1/3 cup fruit, 3 tsp. lemon juice, 1 1/2 tbsp. pectin(Found in most grocery stores.I got mine at Target in the baking isle.) and 1 2/3 sugar. I used the instructions that came off the pectin bottle.  I also decided to make my own stock because one day I was watching the Barefoot Contessa and it just looked so much better and I could just imagine the smells that were coming off that normal stock doesn't give. :) So of course when I did mine I found her  recipe and redid it http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-stock-recipe/index.html.  Yesturday I made my own pizza dough and it was amazing! I also thought well if I'm doing that then why not the sauce and cheese. For my first time making cheese it wasn't so bad, but I think I need more practice. My sauce on the other hand was awesome and since I didn't have regular tomatoes I just the fire roasted ones I had and my sauce had a little flair to it. Yum :) This is were I got my sauce http://allrecipes.com/recipe/homemade-pizza-sauce/detail.aspx , cheese http://allrecipes.com/recipe/home-made-farmers-cheese/detail.aspx and pizza dough http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pizza-dough-i/detail.aspx. Hopefully in the future I'll be making my own recipes and sharing those as well.

Springtime

I know its not spring yet but I couldn't help but pull out some decortions and make some of my own.

I don't have any picks of the unmade things and I've only just begun.  I got the idea of the cross from this site http://www.flickr.com/photos/kellypuffs/455871895/ and for the "Jesus" eggs http://www.jeannewinters.com/2011/04/jesus-easter-eggs.html. Except I want my eggs to last longer so I made my eggs like they do for cascarones. If you need help with that here is a link for that http://ohhappyday.com/?s=cascaron . One of many few next projects will be taking on the task of homemade easter candy. Yum! :)