Celebrate Your Skills

When the holidays come around it's always nice to make your home feel a little more special. The dining table is the focal point of almost every celebration. Here is a easy frugal way to give your table a elegant festive look. This homemade table cloth will be sure to add more magic and fun to your holiday meal.

What you need:
about 4 yards of fabric (color of your choice)
5 yards of fabric in various shades of your main color and different textures.
scissors
sewing machine (optional)


Start by sewing your top main table cloth.
Cut your four yards into two, two yard pieces.
Sew one seem combining the two pieces together to make a piece of fabric that will cover the top of your table.
Lay the large piece of fabric over the table and cut around the edges so that there is a even amount of fabric hanging over the edge.
Cut the remaining pieces of fabric into strips about 1-2 inches wide and about 2 feet long.
Varying lengths is okay and adds interest.
cut small slits in the edge of the table cloth, Move around the table tying the various strips to the large piece of cloth. Here is the result.

Good For You and Good For Your Mother (earth)

lately there has been a bit of a new craze. "Going Green" is the new way of earning your salvation. I don't discriminate, so I thought I would share a green tip of my own.

To make a sterilizing solution for household use, first dilute 1 oz of household bleach in one gallon of tap water and then adding 1 oz of distilled white vinegar.
This earth friendly cleaner is cheap effective. You don't need to spend your money on yellow dye and scented water. Just clean things the way grandma did. You won't regret it.

Kelseys Kandied Oranges

This is my favorite of favorites. This year for Christmas I decided that I was going to make all of my gifts. Specialty candy is something that can be so special and magical. You take something ordinary and make it into something beautiful and unexpected. Ladies you can't buy these in even the best candy stores.

Candied Oranges:

What you will need:
2-3 Oranges
water
2tsp lemon juice
1tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 cup sugar
1tsp vanilla
1/8 cup corn syrup or molasses


Start by slicing your Oranges 1/4" thick halve (you can cut them smaller if you wish)
Place Oranges in sauce pan and add just enough water to cover them.
Add lemon juice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and vanilla.
Bring to a boil for about 30 min to blanch the Oranges.
~This part smells AMAZING!~
Remove the Oranges with a slotted spoon and set them aside on a cooling rack over a paper towel.
~No mater what time of year it is, Christmas music must be playing while making Kandied Oranges~

Pour left over liquid into a more shallow and wide pan. Add sugar.
Stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. *don't look away at this point! You could have a big mess if the liquid bubbles over. I did.
Add corn syrup at this point. Let the liquid simmer for about 15 min and then add Oranges back to the pot. Cook the oranges for about one hour or until they start to look like glass. Let the Oranges cool in pan until they are just warm. Place on a pan liberally greased with lard and let them sit over night. These guys can be tough to remove from the pan. I don't really have any suggestions for this except some elbow grease and don't be afraid of sticky hands. After they have rested over night you are pretty much done. You can serve them just like this or you can shake them in fine sugar or dip them in chocolate (that's my favorite). You can also use these beauties in bread and cake recipes to add a unique touch. They may be a little work but if you are looking to wow your guests, these little chunks of magic will do the trick!

Pop-Corn Ceiling Removal

Maybe you do but you surely do not want your home looking that way! Oh no. Pop corn is for eating not for texturing your ceiling. Find those Spackle knives ladies. Roll up your sleeves and drink a glass of wine before taking on this project. It's a doozy.

You will need:
-plastic drop cloths (this is a messy job)
-masking tape
-Vinegar
-water
-a spray bottle with good range on it.
- Tall step stool or ladder
-Putty knife.. 3"(This smaller size works better)
-Glass of wine
-Some patience

Start by taping up your drop cloths at the tops of your walls. Partner this step with a glass of wine. like so:

After that is done I promise you won't look that messy unless you have been baking just before. Get your spray bottle and make a mixture of one part vinegar and three parts hot water. Begin spraying down small three by three foot sections. Let the pop-corn absorb the liquid (about 5 min). The longer you wait the easier it will be to scrape. Try spraying ahead of yourself as you work. Let one area soak as you scrape another.

Once that is done. Let the ceiling dry and then roll on a couple layers of primer and then you are ready for another project. You've just got to decide how you are going to finish.
A couple options for finishing your cieling:
1) your done, call it good
2) texture your ceiling with plaster for a more updated look.
3) paint your ceiling with one solid color for a neat effect.
4) paint a faux finish with a sponge and some paint glaze for a more antiqued look.

Have fun! Please drink responsibly.

Butterycream Icing

mmmmm mmmm. This is one of my favorites. Whenever I am making it my husband can't help but drag his finger through the mixing bowl as he walks through the kitchen. It took me a while to come up with the perfect recipe for butter cream icing. Every recipe I tried either had too much lard or too much powdered sugar. This personal concoction has the perfect mix of sweet and creamy. It's a little more work than your standard but soooo worth it. Just ask Sargent Pitney and he will tell you.


Butterycream Icing

1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup regular sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp flour
2 1/2 cups unsalted butter
4-6 cups powdered sugar


heat milk till steaming, not burnt. Mix in sugar and nuke it again until you have a thick simple syrup. Add vanilla lemon juice (or almond flavor) and flour. Whisk it all together really well. Let the liquid cool while you prepare the other ingredients(stick it in the freezer for you impatient people).

beat soft butter on high until fluffy and white (at least 5 min. you don't want to cut corners on this one)
when your liquid mixture is cool pour in through a mesh strainer into the butter. Whip it up!
Add powdered sugar a cup at a time. Taste it as you go so that you are sure not to add too much. That's the real key to good icing is just the perfect amount of sweet. Now your done! Slap in on your cakes. It's even better after the cake has been iced for a couple days. YuMmMmmMM!

Raspberry Cake

October first is my husbands birthday. What could be a better than a gift for your man than one straight from your feminine heart. This raspberry cake is sure to please with it's bright fresh taste. I suggest filling it with either lemon meringue pie filling or cheese cake filling with my Butterycream Icing I will post recipes for those two fillings and my favorite icing at a later date. Today we are just doing the cake part.

This recipe will yield enough batter to make two 9 inch caks (3 layers each). I suggest halving or even quartering the recipe if you are just trying it.

5 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups unsalted butter
4 1/2 cup sugar
6 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla ( I don't care if you use the real stuff or not, I like to be thrifty though)
Zest of two lemons
juice of two lemons or more if you like a more citrus taste. I recommend about 1/3 cup of juice total.
2 cups of sour cream
6oz package of raspberry jello
6 oz fresh or thawed frozen raspberries
few drops of pink food dye


Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Add all other ingredients one at a time until well mixed. Mix in flour last.

grease and flour your pans. Fill pans a little less than half way. Sift sugar over the tops of the cakes then throw them in the oven.

These cakes will cook for about 40 min. I have never timed it though. I usually let them bake in 20 min increments, checking and re-setting the timer.

When they are done, let them sit on the oven top for only about 5 min. then flip them out onto a cooling rack. Once they are just still a little warm wrap them in cellophane and store them in the freezer until you are ready to ice. Make sure to pich some of the cake off so that you can try it. You can also bake a small personal cake in a coffee mug so that you can sit down with a cup of coffee and cake after your hard work. Enjoy!

Rock Fireplace Update

Got an ugly fireplace that is stuck in the 1970's?
Here is one way to update it. Some of our houses look like they are right out of the 1970's but they don't have to!
What you need:
Quart of white Primer:
-Few bottles of different neutral colors, any art store brand will do.
-Interior glaze (this can be purchased at Sherwin Williams. It is one of their faux finishing products.
-3" paint brush
-Artistic eye (This can either be something you are born with or something you can learn through countless hours of practice)

First clean your fireplace with a basic water and vinegar solution. Scrub all the years of dust away.

Once the rocks are dry again start painting on your primer. You can paint the grout also but I chose to only paint my stones.

let primer dry and start mixing a few different colors of paint with various amounts of glaze mixed in. I would suggest starting out with more glaze than paint. You can always go back over the stones again.

Brush on your colors. This is where the artistic eye comes in but I found that the texture of the stones really did a lot of the work for me.

Make sure to cover all of the white primer. White stands out against even the lightest neutrals.

Then your done! Light some candles and enjoy your new fireplace for under $70.