Down South Green Beans

With this cooler weather I am in the mood for some southern green beans...yum! I washed the green beans and then snapped off the ends and cut them into bite sized pieces. It reminded me of going to Granny's house, we would pick the beans and she would let me help her snap them. This recipe called for onion powder and there wasn't any in the cabinet so I used the real thing...chopped onion and bacon, it smelled so good! Dell needs to come out with a scratch and smell screen.
Down South Green Beans
6 cups of water
4 pieces of chopped bacon
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
1/2 onion chopped
1 lb of green beans
Brown bacon and onion in a pot on medium low. Add water, pepper, garlic salt and green beans. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 2 hours. Scrape the bottom of the pan to get all of the bacon onion goodness. Smells good and tastes good.

Spiders Everywhere

There are spiders all over my house! Normally I would kill them but I made these. They are plastic spiders with a 1/4" x 1/4" piece of magnet hot glued to the belly of each one. I tired to put the hot glue on the magnet and stick it to the spiders belly but all I got was burned. So I grabbed the spiders leg and put hot glue on his belly and then stuck the magnet on, BAM. On deliacreates.blogspot.com she used spider rings and cut the ring part off. I had cup cake spiders, they are smaller and no ring to cut off. I did have one spider ring in my bag of tricks or treats so I used that one also. This is too much fun!

Warrior Shield

I have been working on a shield to go with my Warrior cuffs. The process is called Tabistry. I have been collecting soda can tabs for a long time. For the shield I used 298 tabs. I cut the material into 1/4" strips and just weaved them together. I used E6000 to glue them to a piece of cardboard that I cut and

covered it with the same material. If you do a search for Tabistry there is a woman who makes and sells wearable costumes. They are so cute! Check it out.

Alivia's 50's Skirt

My niece Alivia needs a 50's skirt for school so I headed to Hobby Lobby for some hot pink felt but they didn't have any so My sister had to go into Houston to pick some up for me. I took some black cotton and ironed on some heat bond, it makes the material into an iron on. I drew the dog and cut him out. I cut out some black felt pieces for his hair and used the heat bond to attach it to the cotton. I ironed the poodle onto the skirt and the zig-zagged around the entire poodle. I added a pearl collar and black studded leash. I had an old pattern that I used to make the skirt. It will be to long and my sister will have to cut some off of the bottom. Since it is felt it wont unravel but she will have to hand wash and lay flat to dry. She might have to wear a petti skirt underneath to make it fluffy.

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Ball

We had our family reunion this past weekend and everyone was supposed to bring food. I brought some chicken, Melanie brought a side dish and Amy brought a dessert. She called it a Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball but it sounded more like a dip than a dessert so I added Cream to the name. I don't really care what the name is, IT IS GOOD. And of course she couldn't take it home so where did she leave it? My House. Well, really I told her I would take it to work but it sat in my refrigerator all day Sunday and of course I nibbled on it all day. Did I mention it was good?
Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Ball
8 oz of soft cream cheese
1/2 cup of soft Parkay butter
3/4 cup of powdered sugar
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla
3/4 cup of miniature chocolate chips
3/4 cup of minced pecans

In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in sugars and vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips, cover and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Shape chilled cream cheese mixture into a ball, wrap with plastic and chill for 1 hour. Roll the cheese ball in pecans before serving. Serve with graham crackers.
****Amy puts the mixture onto plastic wrap and shapes it into a ball that way she doesn't get her hands all messy.

Dragon's Lair

I saw a Dragon someone had made using paper mache and I thought to myself "I can do that". So I found two tomato cages and wired them together with pipe cleaners, isn't it colorful? Then I began to paper mache the cages, this took longer than I expected. I cut the newspaper into 2" strips, mixed some flour and water into a paste, dipped the strips into the paste and layered it onto the cages. Dry and repeat. The cages were about 3' long each and this took up quite a bit of space in my craft room. I sewed and stuffed a tail, at this point it was moved to the garage. I added Styrofoam spikes and wire for wings, the arms are cardboard and more paper mache. I received a lot of Styrofoam in a fund raiser box for my granddaughter and my sweet husband says do you think you could use this? Of course I can! So I layered 3 sheet of Styrofoam together with tacky glue and I used a steak knife to carve his head. I pushed his head onto the ends of the tomato cage and then I purchased a can of popcorn texture to spray on him. I
sprayed this can across the top of his back and then it was empty, if you need to patch a small area this can stuff is great but for a dragon it is worthless. So off to Lowe's to find a solution to add texture to my dragon....Wall Texture. We bought a box of texture and I thought it had a popcorn texture to it but it doesn't. You have to put it on and pat it if you want texture. So here I am
plopping this stuff on and patting it so this guy will have texture and it takes more than a few hours to do this. Finally it's time to paint him, I dabbed Umber Brown all over him....let dry.... dabbed black for character and glow in the dark for his eyes. I had some upholstery tacks so I placed them around his eyes. Hubby found some screw hooks in his garage and he placed them on the ceiling of the front porch and we hung him. I am pretty happy with the results but I will never try this again. I thought I had most of the items I needed to make him but to make him look good it required a bit more. The popcorn spray was $12.00, the Texture was $17.00, the Acrylic paint was $5.00, did I mention he sways when the wind blows...priceless.

Mary Kay Corsage

I purchased a 1 1/2" M and K iron on at the hobby store the other day. I cut assorted sizes on silky material, the sizes were all 1/2 larger than the other ones. I singed the edges, ironed on the M and K and sewed them all together with a jewel in the center. I hot glued a pin onto the back towards the top so it would lay flat, if I glued it in the center the top would hang down. This is for my special Mary Kay Lady....Alli.

Laura's Homecoming Mum

The night before I was going to work on the mum I
printed the letters CW on paper and cut a 1" circle
around it and it fit snugly into the bottle cap. I used the Glossy Accent and completely covered the paper, this will give it a clear bubble look, I let it dry overnight. I hot glued the bottle cap onto the tummy of the 3 1/2" teddy bear and hot glued him into the center of the flower. I cut 7 pieces of 6" red ribbon and crossed it at the bottom and hot glued it together. I hot glued the ribbon around the teddy bear. I cut 7 pieces of 6" gold wired stars and 6" red pipe cleaners, wind it around a skewer and hot glue it into the flower. I had two white discs, one to staple the ribbon to and the other to cover the staples. Staple so that the back side of the staples are all on one side. Hot glue some ribbon to the edge of the white card and then hot glue the flower onto the front of the card. Hot glue the other card to the back side of the stapled card. Cut off any excess flower stem and hot glue the stem so the flower doesn't come apart. I cut some vinyl letters on my Cricut and placed them on the ribbons. This mum will hang around her neck and probably hang to her knees.

Witch Boots

Every Woman should own a pair of Witch boots in case she feels the need to be one. I feel that way occasionally but I made these are for my daughter Amy. I suggest a broom to go with these. Bippity Boppity Boo!

Old Timey Mountain Style Chocolate Syrup Cake

I usually have a photo to go with my recipes but this one went pretty fast...they love me at work! This is a moist chocolate cake that needs a glass of milk with it.
Old Timey Mountain Style Chocolate Syrup Cake
1 stick of Parkay butter (melted)
1 cup of sugar
4 eggs
16 oz of Hershey Chocolate Syrup (yep, 2 full cups of that chocolaty goodness)
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease and flour a 13" x 9" pan. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, syrup and vanilla. Stir in flour and baking powder. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry. DO NOT over bake. This will dry the cake out and it will be taste like chocolate cardboard. Cover with a chocolate glaze or frosting. Enjoy!

I Love Summer....but

Summer is my favorite time of the year, I am a wuss and I can not handle the cold. But when I walked outside this morning I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. It was 68 degrees and it just makes you want to stay out doors. The other day I read a list this woman had posted, now I presume she lives up north and it is probably a lot colder than it is down here in Texas, so I decided to make up my own list.....

These are a Few of My Favorite Fall Things.

1. Sipping hot spiced cider on a blustery afternoon.
2. The way my house smells when I’m baking cookies.
3. Trick or Treat hayrides
4. Big fluffy warm house shoes
5. Orange pumpkins sitting all in a row.
6. Dipping sliced apples in warm ’n' buttery caramel sauce.
7. Pulling out my winter clothes
8. Wrapping my self in a blanket and having a cup of coffee on the porch
before breakfast
9. Hot cocoa with marshmallows
10. Sitting around a fire ring in the brisk evening air.
11. Watching the leaves dance in a gust of wind as I drive along a
country road
12. Gazing in awe at a harvest moon.
13. Long lazy walks with the sun warming you all over.
14. The way the light turns a golden-honey color at the end of the day.
15. Warming my family with a steaming bowl of my soup
16. Going to Fall festivals with your friends.
17. Wearing my rubber boots and colorful knitted scarves.
18. Looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas!
19. Climbing into a cold bed with a big fluffy quilt over you and waiting
for the warmth of your body to sink in
20. Decorating my house for Fall!!
21. Apple Pie and Pumpkin Spice Roll
22. Rake up the leaves and jump in them

Marine Poncho

No, this is not for Sam who is in the Marines. This poncho is for Paxton, my grandson. I found this material at Walmart for $1.50 a yard so I bought 4 yards of it, woohoo. I love Walmart's $1.50 a yard material. I can make all kinds of costume and crafts. You do have to be careful, those $1.50s add up when you buy as much as I do. But I'm having so much fun!!!!

Pokemon Apron and Mario Hat

This Pokemon apron and Mario hat are for Payton. I took a picture of the character and enlarged it to a full size sheet of paper, then I cut out the outline of it. I used two sided fusing to iron everything together and then zigzagged the out line with my sewing machine. It is easier then it sounds. The Mario hat pattern I found online, I just Googled Mario hat pattern and its free. I ironed the circle and M on and then sewed the hat, after I was finished the M was off center and I was so mad but I tried to pull it off and it came off easy so I re-centered it and sewed it on. Yea!!! Next time I will put the M on last.

Super Gurl

I love making costumes but then I believe every body can be super at something. Super Gurl, I know girl is spelt with an i but my blog is all about gurls. GRITS...Gurls raised in the South and this is for my super duper daughter Alli. There is a surprise though and she will just have to wait until she gets this to see what it is. I used a pattern I found on line but next time I will use the hat portion and just use a square piece of material for the bottom. Lesson learned!