Upcycled

Upcycled

Curated By: SalamanderArt

ArtFire.com

Handmade Gifts

Frosty Blues

Frosty Blues

Curated By: Soapsmith

ArtFire.com

Handmade Gifts

Indulge in chocolate without the guilt with these chocolate pearls!!

Chocolate Pearls ...

Curated By: dianewdesigns

ArtFire.com

Craft Tutorials

Happy Monday!...

I used to dread Mondays.  So much so that I even started to dread Sundays because I knew that Mondays followed! hee hee  I'm not like that anymore - I actually have learned to like Mondays!  It means that it is the start of a whole new week with SO MANY possibilities!  So how do you look at Modays?  Do you dread them and wish for the week to pass quickly so that it is the weekend again?....or do you invite Mondays to come because you look forward to all the possibilities that the week may hold?  I truely believe that a person makes their own happiness and you can either have a wonderful week, or a bad week - it's all up to you!  :)

I tried a new recipe for Meatloaf this weekend and it was really really good.  My father-in-law has requested a copy of the recipe and I thought you may be interested in it as well.  So here it is - ENJOY!

Meatloaf recipe

Monkey Bread

If you have never tasted Monkey Bread before, you are seriously missing out!  Monkey bread is this wonderfully sweet, cinnamon sugary, ooey gooey, caramel bread. 

Here is a photo of the one that I made last night

Doesn't it look Yummy?  It is so good!

Here is the recipe.

Monkey Bread Recipe

3/4 cup white sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

4 cans refrigerated biscuits

3/4 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

Grease or spray 9x13 pan or bundt cake pan.  Mix sugar and cinnamon in a 1 gallon plastic bag.  Pull each biscuit in half and shake in cinnamon sugar mixture to coat; place in pan.  Over medium heat, melt butter and brown sugar, then pour over biscuit pieces.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool for 5 minutes.  Turn upside down. 

This is wonderful as is but yesterday I wanted to try something a little bit different.  A friend of mines mother gave me a sack of apples from her tree and I wanted to use some of them in this recipe.  So what I did was took two apples and chopped them into little pieces.  I took those along with about 1 cup of chopped pecans and I sprinkled them onto the bottom of the pan before adding the sugar coated biscuit pieces.  It made a wonderful topping for the monkey bread - very yummy!

Here are a few more photos for you to enjoy



Some great people to check out!

I want to share some great websites and shops with you today!

The first person I would like to tell you about is Tamara Luhman from JosiesDesigns.  She sells her original watercolor and color pencil print greeting cards.  Her specialties are "teacup" cards and celtic cards.  What are "teacup" cards you ask?  They are greeting cards of teacups that hold an actual bag of tea! 

You can see her cards and learn more about her here: http://www.josiesdesigns.com/index.php 

Another person that you must check out is June from Stampyourheartout.  She is the queen of upcycling!  She can take anything that most people would see as junk and turn it into something really fun and cool!

In her own words "I love taking old, often bound for the trash items and remaking them into new to you items. Vintage inspired crafts and upcycled items to decorate your home. Perfect for gifts."
You can find her etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/stampyourartout

And her blog here: http://havestampswillcraft.blogspot.com/                    

You also really need to check out MyNaturesArt.  She and her family live in a small Indian Pueblo house in Santa Fe New Mexico. Many of their soaps are actually baked in the desert sun - how cool is that?!  They specialize in Handmade Natural Soap, Bath, Beauty, and Body Products.

I have tried their lip scrub, facial cleanser, and their bar soap and I have to say - it is THE BEST!

You can check them out here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MyNaturesArt

And also here: http://www.artfire.com/users/NaturesArt

 

Jewelry Christmas Trees

Do you remember those Jewelry Christmas Trees that people would make out of vintage jewelry?  maybe your Grandma or Aunt made your family one as a gift?  Well these days instead of finding them adorning walls during Christmas time, I am finding them at garage sales and second hand shops.

LUCKY ME!!!

I have been buying them and carefully removing all of the beautiful jewelry to upcycle!  It's not that easy of a job, really.  First I have to pry off the jewelry that is usable to me without breaking it.  Then I have to pick off the glue that is stuck to the backs of the jewelry.  After that I need to clean each piece in a special solution that I developed that makes each piece sparkle and brings it back to life again.  Is it all worth it?...well, it is to me!  What is one person's trash is another person's treasure!

I wish I could go to every house in Hutchinson and search the attics, basements, and garages for these Jewelry Christmas Trees and save them from the doom of dirt and dust.  Until then, I will keep scouring garage sales and second hand stores.

Here are a few photos that I took yesterday while I worked on a couple of them.

This is a photo of a tree that I hadn't taken apart yet

This is a tree that I already took the pieces that I wanted

Here is a close up photo of part of a tree

Here are some of the jewelry pieces from the trees before cleaning them

Visit my ArtFire Studio wingsofflutter to see what I make from these rescued pieces of jewelry!

One Minute Cake

Who says you can't make your family a warm yummy dessert every night of the week? 

I say YOU CAN!!

This is how

One Minute Cake in a Mug Recipe:

Mix the following dry ingredients and store in a container

1 box cake mix (9 x 13) - any flavor

1 box angel food complete cake mix

To make a single serve cake, mix the following in a 2 cup coffee mug or glass:

1/3 cup cake mix powder

3 Tbls water

Microwave on high for 1 minute - DONE!

Now take it a bit further by adding things to the top of the baked cake like:

Hot fudge

caramel sauce

fruit sauces - would be awesome with vanilla cake and whipped cream!

whipped cream and crushed cookies

ice cream

cut up bananas

chopped nuts

I made this for my family last night and we all loved it!  We used a German Chocolate cake mix.

We all added different things to ours once they were baked.  For mine I drizzled caramel sauce on top of the cake.  Then I added a scoop of vanilla ice cream and to top it off I drizzled more caramel on top of the ice cream.  The warmth of the cake melted the ice cream just slightly and made it so yummy!!! 

Try it - I don't think you'll be disappointed!