Flags and a boo-boo

Good Thursday morning everyone!  It sure is a bright morning out there today.  Cold but, bright.  I will definitely take it.  It has been dreary and showery for almost a week it seems.  The bright sun is a nice change.  All of that rain sure has made the grass sprout up quickly though.  Maybe this week-end our yard can get mowed.  I am not going to hold my breath on it.LOL. 

So, today I thought that I would show some pictures of the flags that I had started last week.  I made a mistake on them (if there's a mistake to be made, I'll figure out how to make it)!!!!!  Anyway, these were fun to make and I really thought that I had thought things through enough to NOT make a mistake but, apparently not!!!! 









Ok, so this photo here shows it the way is is supposed to be.  I also used a twig for my pole.  I think that gives it a little more prim character.  Now, when I painted the other side of the flags, I wanted them to all be waving the right way.  So that no matter which way they moved around in the bucket they would look correct.  That was so smart of me to think that through, NOT!!!!!  I didn't finish thinking it through.  Now, look:



Now do you see my mistake?  Sure you do.  The pole is on the wrong side of the flag when you turn it around.  That was even thought through!LOL!!!  Oh well!  I figured that if I showed you all my mistake, I might save someone else from doing the same thing.  I am still going to put them all out in my wooden bucket and just display them all facing the proper direction.  If nothing more, it will definitely remind me to REALLY think things all the way through.  I doubt it.  Trust me there will be plenty more errors to follow.  But, to me that is okay.  That's what makes everything I do original.  LOL! 

These really were fun to make and I just love it when you get to the point of staining them.  What a transformation.  It is so neat.  Stuffing these little guys was fun too.  The gluing them closed was a little pain when it came to gluing the pole in place as well.  Definitely use clothes pins and whatever you might have handy.  Over all, this was fun, inexpensive and end result is a really nice piece of prim decor.  The tutorial for this is at White Sheep Farms blog.  I have linked you to there before, she is currently closed so please check back to get the tutorial.  I am not sure if I even followed all the directions.  Here is the link to her site: http://www.whitesheepfarm.com/ .  I hope that you check it out and make up some of these goodes for yourself.

I also wanted to show you the other little project that I have been working on:



Wow, I didn't realize that the picture had come out so blurry.  Oh well, you can see enough to make out the two cute little sheep.  I love sheep.  I wanted to  show you this before I add the ecru to the sheep's body.  I coffee stained this up before I added the ecru.  Another mistake I made before--- Make sure to stain the fabric before the ecru or white get added or they will be the color of your tea or coffee stain.  Don't learn that the hard way......I did that for you. LOL!  This was a free pattern from here:  http://primitivebettys.blogspot.com/  Just go to her left side bar and all her freebies are there.  I have linked you there before as well.  Some of these sites are just so good I can't help but keep going to them.  They are great inspiration and wonderful crafters. 

Sorry I started this post this morning and had to finish it this afternoon.  The day turned out pretty good, overall.  It is starting to get a little cooler out again.  I need to go now and fix supper.  I hope that you all have a nice evening tonight and I will be talking to ya soon.

Warm primitive blessings to you all.

prim_bug

TEMPTATION TUESDAY

Good morning everyone.  I hope that your days' have all started off on a good note.  Maybe more like a sweet note.  How does that sound?  Well in case it didn't, I have something that should help turn that right around for ya.  This recipe is something very new to me.  Remember last week, Lori's surprise birthday party?  Well, let's just say that she got the sweetest gift.......no, not a puppy, although that is pretty sweet.  No, our oldest brother brought her in a gift that he had made for her.  It was a Chocolate and Coffee Cream Pie.  He got the recipe from the Food Network and it was by Sandra Lee.  I just want to tell you this one is a real dangerous one.  I didn't want the recipe for the simple fact that I can't be trusted with it.  Not supposed to have this stuff but, once you taste it, it keeps calling you back for more.  Yes, Lori did get to enjoy some of it!  Just kidding, I really did try to stay away from it.  But, I also did try some of it.  If I was to have a dessert of my choice.......I think that this little sweetie would probably win more often than not.   I will warn you, it is very sweet but, believe me it's nothing that you can't handle.   Everyone should try this at least once in their lifetime!!!!  If you love someone that loves chocolate......you need to make this for them and show them just how much you love them. 

So, here it is:

CHOCOLATE AND COFFEE CREAM PIE

Filling:
1 c heavy cream
1/4 c light corn syrup
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp coffee liqueur (my brother used coffee brandy)
1 teas vanilla extract
10 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
1 9" prepared chocolate cookie crust such as:  Oreo pie crust

Coffee Whipped Cream Topping:
1 1/2 c heavy cream
1/4 c chocolate hazelnut spread such as:  Nutella
1 Tbsp instant espresso or coffee
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
chocolate puffed rice cereal for garnish- my brother skipped this and I would say this could definitely be optional- we didn't miss it.  It was delicious without it.

Filling-  Heat cream over med/low heat.  When hot, whisk in corn syrup, butter, liqueur, vanilla, and chocolate.  Mix until ingredients are fully incorporated into cream and mixture is smooth and silky.  Remove from heat and pour into prepared pie crust.  Place in refrigerator until completely cooled and set.  Approx. 1 hour.

Topping-  In a large chilled metal bowl combine cream, nutella, espresso, sugar and vanilla.  Whip with mixer until peaks form. 

Pour the topping over the filling and cover the filling completely.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  When ready to serve top with chocolate puffed rice cereal. 

Personally, if I were going to top it with another item.  I would just shave a little bit more of that dark chocolate over the top instead of the cereal.  Just another option.  Even my favorite white chocolate over the top would be delicious too!  Yumm.

If you would like to link to the actual site the recipe came from it is here:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sandra-lee/chocolate-and-coffee-cream-pie-recipe/index.html

I kind of short hand the recipes so you might actually like the original version better.  Plus they offer printer friendly versions as well.  Either way, I hope that you enjoy today's truly Temptation Tuesday recipe.  It is by all accounts sweet!!!!!!!!

I hope that you all enjoy the rest of your day and I hope that this recipe delights you as much as it did us.  Enjoy!

Warm primitive blessings to you all.

prim_bug

TEMPTATION TUESDAY

Good morning everyone.  I hope that your Tuesday has started off well.  Mine is a little bit rushed so the recipe today will be a quickie (I need to bring hubby's truck to the garage to get the heater knob fixed before summer, it blows out heat on every setting).  That doesn't mean that it isn't worth it though.  These little beauties are quick to whip up.  They are so yummy beware...you will want to eat them all.  Make sure you have friends around to share these with, they are dangerous!!!!!!  This recipe was shared with me from a friend a few years ago and they will be worth the 5-10 mins to make. 

ST. LOUIS BROWNIES

1 yellow cake mix
1 stick butter/margarine, melted
2 eggs
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
3 eggs
1 pound (16oz) powdered sugar

Mix cake mix, butter and 2 eggs together and pour into a greased 9x13 pan.  Use a mixer and mix the cream cheese, 3 eggs and powdered sugar.  This mix will be real runny.  Pour over the first mixture in the pan.  Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.  Cool and then sprinkle with powdered sugar.  This is delicious. 

I hope that you all enjoy this as much as we have. 

BTW-  if you were interested, the party last night was a surprise.  No, she didn't cry but, when we brought her in she was totally stunned.......silent!  On the ride home we asked her what she thought and she said "I was just shocked"!LOL!   It was great!  Alot of great family and friends there to share the BIG one with her.  Thanks to all who went!

Warm primitive blessings to you all.

prim_bug

DOGS AND BIRDS

Happy Thursday to you all.  I hope that you all are well today.  There have been a lot of bloggers out there recently that have been in great need of thoughts and prayers.  So, many prayers have gone out to them all.  For the rest of you, I again hope that all is well. 

Today I have a few pictures to show ya.  I haven't been overly crafting but, I have been busy.  I hope to get back on track soon.  Anyway here is the first thing that I wanted to share with ya.

Check out this little beauty.  I love this crow.  It really isn't little either.  In the next picture you will get a better idea of just how big this is.  I just love her.  I know that her wing is very white.  it won't be when I am finished but, I wanted to show you all what I have been up to and link you to this free pattern.  The pattern is not just of the crow, it has two other birds as well.  This is an awesome freebie!  You really need to go and print this out for yourself.  What a fun and easy project to do.  These birds were easy to cut, sew, and assemble.  I still need to sew the wings on this one and then I can stain and bake these little buggers up.  Love them and what a perfect time to make them.  I got the free patterns from Denise Davis at:    http://sassafrashillprimitives.us/  They are called the Spring Fever-Prim Bird Make Dos.   I didn't make mine into make-dos.  I do not have any of the springs to use or any bobbins laying around.  I think that these are going to look great just tucked in around the house as they are. 

In this picture here I just wanted to give you an idea of how big these make up.  I think they are pretty great.

Love this one as well.  This will be great once it is all stained up and I still need to add all their eyes.  Sorry about the thread I am in the middle of attaching the wing still. 

I love the fabric for this blue bird.  I am still trying to get the knack of stuffing these little babies.  Either I over stuff them or I under stuff them.  Hopefully time and practice will help.  I am not giving up until I get it right!!!!!  Anyway this is a new stitch that I have been trying to learn as well.  It is the feather stitch.  It sure does add a nice touch to your projects.  I loooooove the look of this stitch.  I think that it is so neat.  I had a little trouble starting off.  All I can say is when you start it stay close to the tutorial and just keep pausing it to watch how Pamela does it.  She makes great tutorials.  I got a little frustrated at first but, again I stuck with it.  I feel much better about doing it.  Not quite a pro yet but, you never know..........!LOL! 

This was the first one I attempted to stitch.  I put my thread in too close to the top and by the time I got back around to finish it, it had frayed through.  I was Extremely frustrated and upset.  I really didn't want to pull the stitches out so I put some liquid stitch under and tucked my threads in place as best I could.  It was a big boo-boo but, I fixed enough so that I am happy with it and I still have a reminder of my first attempt.  Thought that I would share that with you all not because I am proud but, because I am human.  We all make mistakes and learn from them (hopefully----I am not finished yet)LOL!  The tutorial for the feather stitch is found here:http://ourpioneerhomestead.blogspot.com/
She has the greatest tutorials and an awesome blog.  Enjoy!

I wanted to show you the rack that I picked up for a couple of bucks at Goodwill and where I put it.

Okay so, it is basically a towel rack.........so.  I painted it black and thought that it would look great with a beautiful quilt hanging off of it.  Well, it does!

I think that it looks awesome.  I had intentions of hanging the blue and white quilt that I had got a couple of weeks ago on this but, it didn't go well with my walls.  Then I remembered that I had a perfect quilt for there.  My niece Samantha had made this for me for Christmas over a year ago.  I loooooove the colors she put in it.  And it looks amazing.  Not liking the white receptacle covers those will change soon.

The last thing that I wanted to share with you all is a few pictures of my babies:

This is my baby Jeffrey.  I call him my baby because he is the smallest but, he actually is the oldest.  He is a little over ten years old. 

This here is my little girl Miss Frankie.  Yes, I said little and yes, I said girl.  She is about 9 years old and about as overweight as I am,  I am not a good influence on her obviously.LOL! 

And, last but not least.  We have Mr Kayzer.  He is the youngest in my brood.  He is about 7 1/2 yrs old.  He has been a hyper dog ever since we got him.  He did not come from a good place.  I believe that it was a definite puppy mill and he probably would not have lived if we hadn't taken him.  He has the saddest eyes in the world and is the sweetest thing.  If you look closely in the picture you will see that he has three tennis balls in his mouth at the same time.  He has tried four!!  I was trying to hold his head up in the picture to show you he is a scaredy cat of everything. 

I tried to catch a quick shot of him.  He didn't cooperate very well. 

I gave it one last try but even holding his collar he didn't like it.  You can still see the third ball in there though.  Yes, I do worry that he will get these stuck or choke on them but, since he was a pup this was what he did.  Thank God, no problems yet!  He will bring great big rocks (hubby calls them boulders) in the house if he can't find the balls outside to bring in instead.  They are not so forgiving on your toes!!!!!!  I try to keep lots of balls around!LOL!


Well I need to get going now.  My sister will be getting home within an hour and I need to get supper started.  I hope that I haven't bored you all out of your minds.  Sorry if I have.  It's been a while since I showed you anything and I really wanted to get to it.  Make sure you check out the blogs that I linked you to they are awesome.  And when it's free then it is worth it even more!!!!!!

Enjoy your evening with your families and I will be doing the same. 

Warm primitive blessings to you all!
prim_bug

TEMPTATION TUESDAYS

Hello everyone.  I hope that you all had a great holiday.  We sure did.  It was wonderful, great company, great food, great day!!!!!!

If you are as fortunate as I was, then you too have some leftover ham.  So, I decided to share a quick recipe that I made up for mine.  We love the Reuben sandwiches and this is in honor of those. 

REUBEN CASSEROLE:

1 Lb. macaroni, cooked (I used whole wheat rotini noodles)
1 bottle thousand island dressing (I used the Kens Lite), (use about 1/2 of the bottle to 3/4 of the bottle)
1 can of sauerkraut, drained
leftover ham, chopped--put in as much or as little as you like
1 pkg of shredded swiss cheese or sharp cheese

Lightly spray a 13x9 pan with non-stick spray.  Mix together macaroni, dressing, sauerkraut, and ham.  Adjust the amount of dressing you want to your personal preference.  I like mine to be a little more on the moist and soupy side so I used 3/4 of the bottle in mine.  Pour the mixture into your pan and sprinkle with the cheese.  Pop into the oven and bake at 350 for about 35 minutes or until bubbly on the sides.  Mine is cooking for supper right now and it smells so yummy!!!!!!

Sorry that this is so late.  I kind of just forgot that today is Tuesday.  Not just Tuesday but, TEMPTATION TUESDAY! 

I have just been taking it a little easy after all the cooking and cleaning and preparing.  Alright, alright, I was just being a little bit lazy these past couple of days. LOL.  Anyway, I am getting back on track and can't wait to show you what I am up to. 

Hope that you all enjoy the recipe.  If you like a Reuben then this is sure to please.  Bonus:  it's quick and easy.  I made mine up this morning and popped it in the oven so it will be steaming when hubby gets home. 

Have a great rest of the day and a nice comfy evening at home.

Warm primitive blessings to you all!
prim_bug

TEMPTATION TUESDAY

Good morning everyone!

I hope that all is well with you.  I have been a little busy so I have not had time to post much.  Sorry!  I did want to get this recipe out to you all before Easter.  This is a family favorite.  We have this at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.  It is easy to prepare ahead of time and tastes great.  At least, we think so.  I hope that you all try it and give it a shot too!!

Anyway, here it is:

HAM WAIKIKI

1 large ham----I use a Cook's Ham butt.  Cook's ham is the brand that I use and my mom told me that the butt is the better tasting part.  Who'da thunk it!LOL!!!!!
1 can sliced pineapple
1 green pepper, sliced
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp corn starch
3/4 cup vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 teas ginger
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 jar cherries

The first thing that I do is, take two pieces of aluminum foil the same length, and you want them to be long enough to fit in your pan and wrap around your ham.  You lay one piece flat on top of the other and fold a seam down the long side of the foil.  You will want to fold this over at least three times.  This will help it to seal in all the juices and steam.  I usually have to add a third piece of aluminum foil and do the same thing.  Make another seam down the other side.  Now I open the foil up and it should be 3 wide.  I then carefully, (without poking a hole in it) gently push it down in the bottom of my pan.  When that is done I put my ham in the foil, in the pan and leave it open to pour the toppings on. 

Drain pineapple, pouring the juice into a 2 cup measure.  Add water to pineapple juice to make 1 1/4 cup of syrup.  In saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, pineapple syrup, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger and bouillon.  Bring to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and add cherries and their juice.  Put pineapple rings and pepper rings on and around ham.  Pour the syrup all over the ham.  (If you have an injector----inject this juice into the ham---delicious)!!!  Wrap the foil in another seam tightly.  An close the ends as well. 

I normally cook mine at a low temp about 300 from about 7:00 am until around 11:00 am. or so.  It doesn't have to cook that long but all those flavors really melt together. 

HINT:  I prepare my ham the evening before and refrigerate it overnight so that all I have to do is pop it in the oven in the morning when I am ready for it.  This takes alot of the stress out of cooking a big holiday meal. 

I hope that you all get a chance to try this soon!  I know that we will be.  And on that note I need to get going now.  I have to go pick up my Easter groceries. 

I hope that you all have a great day today.  Hopefully I will be able to get  back tomorrow and share some goodies with ya.

Warm primitive blessings to you all,
prim_bug