Christmas is a Child

Since its inception five years ago I have been involved with a group called Christmas is a Child.  It's a way to give back to the kids in our community.  I'd like to encourage you to check out the Facebook page and contact me if you have questions.
Christmas is a Child is a toy and gift drive for the kids of the community.  Any child 18 and under who lives full time in the Oakland school district is eligible.  With 50% of our children living in poverty the need is great.  Please pass this information on to anyone from the area so we can make this a brighter Christmas for our kids.

chili

What's better on a cool fall night than a big bowl of chili?  It's even better if you can dump everything into the crock pot before you go to work and come home to a finished dinner.

Here's what you need:

1# ground beef

1 onion and green pepper diced

2 15oz cans each of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and chili beans
2 cloves garlic minced
2-3 tst chili powder, oregano and cumin
salt and pepper to taste.

 Put your meat in the crock pot and break it into chunks , dump everything else on top of it.  Turn the pot on low, cover with lid and go away.  Ready in about 6 hours.  You can also do this on the stove top in about an hour, but I think it tastes better when it cooks all day.



best chili beans hands down

  This freezes well.  Just let it cool down a little and ladle into freezer bags.  then you have dinner for at least 2 more nights.


just dump everything together and leave





what more could you ask for unless you want a little cheddar cheese or sour cream?



Saausage, biscuits and gravy

Biscuits and gravy are an easy, fast go to meal for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Here's what you need:
1# sausage
2T butter optional
2T flour
salt and pepper to taste
4C milk varies with how liquid you like your gravy.
Biscuits Make your own but I'll stick with Grands
Brown the sausage in a skillet until no longer pink

Add the flour and butter and cook for at least a minute.  The sausage I buy is so lean I need to use butter, if you have plenty of fat in the skillet use that instead.

Add the milk and simmer until thick and yummy.  Add S+P to taste/

Not the healthiest meal you can have but it's OK every once in a while.

gift wrapping 101

 If you're like me you find yourself wrapping gifts all year long.  The standard box is pretty typical, paper bags overdone.  How about a fabric, reusable bag that is unique to the person receiving the gift?  Fabric bags are simple to make, inexpensive and can be made as rustic or elegant as you would like.  Eye ball your gift and cut fabric at least 2 times plus 12" longer and 2 time plus 4-6" wider.  This gives you enough room to tie at the top and add tissue to the inside.  This kind of bag is perfect for that bulky, odd shaped gift.  Sew right sides together leaving the top open.  Turn inside out and press.  Use pinking shears or neaten up the top edge with scissors if needed.  Wrap your gift with tissue if you want and pop it into the bag.  Tie the top with ribbon, cord, raffia, an old tie, jump rope, anything you can think of. Add a coordinating tag. Match your colors and fabrics to the recipient and occasion.  If you keep a few of these on hand you can have your gift wrapped in minutes. I can guarantee this wrapping won't be in the trash 30 seconds later. Happy Giving!


Christmas is coming, time to get sewing



Your choice of fabric and ribbon makes the gift personal .

home made laundry soap

Sorry there are no pictures with this one.  KC gave me my first batch in a Ziploc box and white powder is just not that exciting to look at.
I don't know about you but I'm always looking for less toxic and cheaper ways to do everyday things.  My friend and business partner gave me this recipe for laundry soap.  It's low cost and you use just 1-2 tablespoons per load, making a batch go a long way.
Here's what you need:
1 bar Ivory soap buy it at the dollar store 3 for $1.00  Grate this on your box grater on the small side, it should look like Parmesan cheese when you're done.
1C borax 20 mule team borax is the one I've seen the most.  You can buy this at places like Walmart, Rural King or Farm and Fleet
1C washing soda she  used Arm and Hammer and purchased it at Rural King and I've seen it at Walmart.  You could add a couple of drops of essential oil if you just have to have scent.  Grate Ivory soap finely and add the soda and borax.  Store in an air tight container.  Use 1-2T per load.
AH gets his clothes supper greasy and grimy at work and this works great.
For the price of $1.38 for 32-64 loads that works out to 2-4 cents per load.  I know it's a whole lot cheaper that regular laundry detergent and much less toxic.
This is a great detergent for the newer high efficiency front load washers, it is very low sudsing.
Just keep it in a plastic container with lid and a tablespoon for measuring. 
But wait I can hear you screaming, what about fabric softener?  You have a few choices here the most economical being 1/4C of white vinegar in your softener cup of your washer or use it in a spray bottle and give the load a few squirts when you pop it into the dryer
I don't think doing laundry will ever qualify as fun in my book but doing it cheaply certainly does.

Monkey bread

 Monkey bread is easy to make and you can do everything ahead, let it rise all night in the frig and bake for breakfast the next morning.

Here's what you need:

Frozen yeast roll dough  The kind I buy comes in packages of 36, you only need 24 for this recipe.  Bake the rest in a small pan for later or look below.

1 stick butter I'm channeling my inner Paula Deen here

1/2C brown sugar

2tsp cinnamon use more if you like  Mix these two together in a small bowl.

Spray a bundt or angel food cake pan with Pam

Defrost 24 balls of dough in the microwave for 60-90seconds

Dip each roll in butter and roll in the cinnamon/sugar mix  Pour the rest of the butter over the rolls after they are in the pan.  Let rise.

Bake 350 for 25-30 minutes.  The top should be golden brown and not gooey in the center.  Cool at least 30 minutes and invert pan to remove rolls.

 Now you've got 12 balls of dough left.  You could just bake them up as rolls for dinner, make a mini monkey bread or bake up cheddar garlic rolls.

Thaw your dough balls as above.  Cut a slit in each ball and add a small piece of sharp cheddar cheese.  Be sure to pinch the dough back together so the cheesy goodness doesn't leak out.  Dip in melted butter about 1/2 of a stick, with 1/2tsp of garlic powder mixed in.  Let rise and bake according to package directions.

Warm rolls in a low oven later for dinner, or just start stuffing them in as soon as you can with out burning your mouth.

blogging for dollars

 

goats milk soap



sugar scrub, the brown sugar/orange is my favorite



When I started blogging I did give some thought to making the blog profitable if it was a success.  Of course at the time I had no clue what that might be and figured I'd work on it in a year or so. Well you know what they say about the best laid plans.  When somethings whacks you upside the head it's time to listen.  My very smart  brother, who's job is   helping small businesses, suggested I find something to sell after the first couple of weeks of blogging.  Soon after my friend, KathyC(now partner) and I started talking about turning the hand crafted soaps and lotions we had made last Christmas into a business. .  Before you know it we were looking up laws and regulations, searching the Internet, scoping out similar products, shopping(my favorite part)stirring up products and scratching our heads at all we didn't know about starting a business.  Now I think we were ready to put up or shut up.  Our friends and family are really tired of listening to us and testing countless samples. 

lavender scrub soap



no talc 100% natural dusting powder



So without any more noise here it is: Vintage Cottage Beauty.  There is a link here on the blog which will take you directly to our Etsy shop.  We are offering a line of luxury quality soaps, lotions, powder and scrubs that are mostly natural with as few artificial ingredients and preservatives as we can possibly make them.  We have lots of exciting products coming soon like massage lotions, milk baths and bath fizzies.  We are also working on gift bags, customized orders and special products for kids and men.  I don't know how we even sleep our brains are so full.  One of our biggest features will be our customizing.  If you have a shower, family gathering, wedding or special event, we will work with you to customize the products, colors and wrappings to coordinate with your event.  So please check us out, let us know your ideas and keep in touch.  We value your opinions and ideas more than you know.



  I have always disliked blogs that only promote what the blogger is selling.  I promise I will not do that.  I'll feature the business occasionally but will keep the same crafting, decorating, cooking and gardening projects that I've always written about  the main subjects of this blog..



body butter, absolute heaven



solid lotion, your scaly parts will cheer



pineapple sage/lemon scrub soap



gourd candy dish

 Apple gourds are the perfect gift for teachers.  They can use them on their desk to hold treats, supplies or surprises for the class.

Here's what you need:

Dried appple gourd

Paint

Clear sealer

Paint pen (optional)

Use a  fresh apple gourd and dry it for a year in your attic or other dark warm place.  Or go to a local pumpkin patch and look for already dried gourds.  Most of them have a pile of these somewhere.  You can also find them online.

Clean the gourd by soaking in warm water and using a scrubbing pad to get of all the debris.  Let dry.

Mark a line about 2" down from the top and cut with a saw.  I used a band saw but you could use a saber saw or table saw.  Sand the edges smooth.  I often use emery boards for small sanding jobs.  Mark a vertical line with a pencil on the inside to line up top and bottom.  Clean out the ribs and seeds inside the gourd.  The easieset way to paint these is by dumping in paint and brushing it around to cover completely.  Use 2 coats.  Let dry.
Paint the outside with several layers of paint to get the blend of colors.


This one started with a gold base coat and then I brushed on a couple of shades of red letting some of the gold show.



Glue a small piece of vinyl, leather, heavy fabric on the inside as a hinge, making sure to line up your top and bottom.  E6000 is a great all purpose crafting glue for heavy duty jobs like this.

You can add the teachers name on it with a paint pen if you like.

Spray with clear sealer at least 2 coats.  Use only wrapped candy.

Reved up banana bread

 I love to take standard mixes and kick them up a notch for extra flavor.  Here's what you need:

I box quick bread mix

Oil, water, eggs per package instructions

Chocolate chips, mashed banana , chopped nuts

Mix the bread according to package instructions.  Add in 1 mashed banana, 1/2C chopped nuts and chocolate chips.

Bake according to directions, you may have to bake a few minutes longer because of the additional ingredients.

If you make these in mini pans they make great gifts.

crazy campers

When AH and I go camping we usually go to get away from the hustle and bustle of home and work.  We want to chill out, relax and enjoy our time together. 
Do you have any idea what happens to those ideas when you add, 3 tents, 3 dogs, 5 kids and 5 adults?  There will be no relaxing, chilling out or quiet. 
It was so beautiful last weekend.   Temps in the low 80's, 50's at night, a beautiful park and softly falling leaves.  The kids were well behaved, the adults almost.  We ate tons of food, hung out around the camp fire and visited a pumpkin patch.  We toasted marshmallows, hunted for twigs to start our fire and decorated our pumpkins. 


Fall has arrived




Beautiful lake.  It's supposed to be great for fishing.




Tons of stuff they couldn't live without.




Rich, Katelyn, Brandi




Nate, Jayden and Chase.  DIL Barb couldn't come, she was missed.




I don't think anyone has more beautiful grand kids.  They are always ready to pose.




Pumpkin patch, a great picnic and mazes to go through.




A new look for a Midwest grain bin.




O ur favorite past time eating.  MIL Sara, Brendan and Rich




DIL Sara and Ron fixing dinner.

 At the end we were exhausted, smelled like wood smoke,  had a ton of stuff to put away and laundry to do.  Having our family all together makes all the work worthwhile.

Cheddar corn bread

I'm all for taking short cuts when you can especially when they turn out this good.

You'll need:

2 boxes of jiffy corn bread mix

Ingredients on the pkg which are an  egg and milk (double check I've slept since then)

1 can of corn drained

4oz of extra sharp cheddar cheese cut in 1/2 pieces

1 can chopped chillies optional

1/2 tsp red chili flakes

Grease a 9x13 baking pan

Mix up the corn bread per package instructions

Add the corn, chillies, cheese and mix in lightly

Bake according to package instructions

Let cool slightly and slather on butter til you feel guilty

I confess when I made this batch I didn't have the chillies so I upped the pepper flakes a little bit.  It was still great.  We ate it with  BBQ ribs and a salad.

wreath making

Making a  wreath of almost any material follows the same basic procedures.
Here's what you need:
Wreath frame, stiff wire  or a hanger pulled into a circle.  You can but a wreath frame at any place that sells craft supplies.  I use these if I'm making a heavy evergreen or pine cone wreath otherwise go for the free hangers.I
Tie wire 18ga
Wire cutters
Materials to make the wreath with.  Flowers, branches, herbs, evergreens all work well.  I like
to work with fresh materials and let them dry.  You just have to pack them a little tighter to allow for shrinkage.You can also buy dried grasses in bunches at the craft store.


Form the hanger into a circle or bend straight wire into a circle form and secure ends together.  Leave a tail of tie wire about 4" long





Start adding bundles of material, wrapping the tie wire tightly.  So tight it makes your hands hurt to do it.




continue adding bundles of materials overlapping the ends and continue until you go completely around the circle.  Hide the ends of the last few bundles under the first few you put on.  Here I'm using sage, but you could use a mix of herbs for cooking.  Make sure you cover the hook of the hanger or cut it off and wrap the ends of the wires together



Here's the finished wreath.  This one is artemesia.  I'll lay it flat to dry for a few days before hanging it on my front door.  I may add a bow or some berries for added color.

OK I confess.  I made the artemesia wreath without even thinking about taking pics for the blog.  I took the how to pics  with herbs after the wreath was on the door.  BAD blogger!!

Gardening end of the season

 When frost threatens it's time to gather up the last of the garden goodies and preserve them for the winter.


Parsley, chop and freeze in ice cube trays.  Pop into a plastic bag when frozen and use in soups, stews and casseroles.  Basil is also best preserved this way.




Fennel, gather the seed heads in a paper bag, let them dry and them rub the seeds away from the stems and store in a cool dry place.




Sage, just wrap the ends with a rubber band and hang to dry




Globe amaranth, just pick them and use in crafts




Cox combs, wrap the ends with a rubber band and hang to dry.  These are beautiful in Christmas wreaths



Just pick your late tomatoes and let them ripen on the counter



Pine apple sage, it really loose a lot of it's fragrance when dried so I prefer freezing.  Use in drinks and fruit sauces