Friday, April 29, 2011

Tool Belt Dads card

This delightful card was made by forum member Crazysue.
A DAD card that resembles a tool belt.
Very creative Sue !
A tutorial can be found HERE
And another HERE

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Crystal Eggs

These wonderful crystal Eggs.
What a great way to spend time with a child and make your own crystals.
The whole kit id offered on Figgys site for only 20.00 dollars along with a few other great kits.
Check out the sites and enjoy the science !
Tools and Materials

•Blown-out eggshell (Get the How-To)
•Alum powder
•White glue
•Small paintbrush
•Plastic or glass container
•Egg dye
•Hot water
•Craft stick or spoon
•Latex gloves
•Drying rack or newspaper
Crystal Egg Geode How-To

1. Start by blowing out a large white chicken egg (Get the How-To) and splitting it in half, lengthwise. The egg can be cracked by striking it against a surface or cut with a small pair of scissors. Make sure the inside of the eggshell is clean and dry.

2. With a small paintbrush, apply white glue to the inside and cracked edges of each half of the eggshell and sprinkle with alum powder until completely coated. Set eggshell halves aside to dry overnight.

3. The next day, prepare your growing solution in a glass or plastic container by using a craft stick or spoon to mix 2 cups of very hot water (almost boiling) with an entire packet of powdered egg dye. Be sure to wear latex gloves to protect your hands from the dye. (Tip: Liquid food coloring can also be used to dye the geode -- 30 to 40 drops will adequately saturate the solution.)

4. Add 3/4 cup of alum powder to the hot dye bath and stir until completely dissolved. If there are remaining crystals in the bottom of the container, place the solution in the microwave for a few minutes to dissolve them. This will prevent alum from being drawn away from the geode.

5. Once the alum is completely dissolved, let the solution cool slightly (for about 30 minutes) and then submerge one of the dried, alum-coated eggshells in the growing solution, allowing it to rest on the bottom of the container with the inside of the shell facing up.

6. Set the container aside in a safe place overnight to allow the crystals to grow undisturbed. (Tip: The longer the eggshell is in the solution, the larger the crystals in the geode will be. Twelve to 15 hours will usually result in a perfect geode.)

7. The next day, remove the geode from the growing solution very carefully (as wet crystals are quite fragile), being sure to wear latex gloves to prevent the dye from staining your hands. (Tip: If you are not satisfied with the size of your geode crystals, return the geode to the growing solution and wait a day or two. As water evaporates from the solution, more alum will be deposited in your geode, increasing the size of the crystals.)
8. Place your geode on a drying rack or newspaper and allow to dry completely before handling.
9. To grow a second geode in the other half of the eggshell, simply re-dissolve the crystals remaining at the bottom of the growing solution in the microwave and follow the instructions above starting at step 5.

Additional Tips
Geodes can be grown without using egg dye. The resulting crystals are clear to milky white, like quartz.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Fabric Flower Tutorial


This pretty fabric flower tutorial is

Quick Red beans and rice Recipe

A traditional meal in the south typically served on Monday night.

Ingredients:
3/4 Vidalia or otherwise sweet onion
2 cans small red beans
1/4 cup white wine
1 teaspoon powdered sage
1 teapoon powdered thyme
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1-2 tablespoons Cayenne chile powder
3 bay leaves
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon chipotle (goes a loooong way)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)
10-15 button mushrooms (quartered)
1 diced fine green pepper
1 cup white rice
Leave as is for vegetarian or pick your meat of choice.
Serves 4
Start by caramelizing the onions in a cast iron skillet. Once the onions are done,
de-glaze the pan with white wine. Coarsely chop the onions and add them to a large
pot holding the two cans of small red beans with their liquid on low heat. Add diced green peppers Also,
pour the pan de-glazing liquid into the pot of red beans. As the beans are heating, take
a potato masher and crush just a few of the beans in the pot to make for variety of texture.
Then start seasoning the beans and onions with the sage, thyme, two crushed garlic cloves,
chile powder, paprika chipotle flakes, salt, pepper, bay leaves and sugar. Stir the beans and
evenly mix in the spices then add the mushrooms into the bean mixture.
Heat on medium heat until mushrooms are cooked then ladle over cooked rice
(two cups water per cup of rice and cook until tender) and eat or place beans in
refrigerator over night to let the flavors mix. We like to eat our red beans and rice with spiced shrimp.
I cook the large shrimp in a l;arge fry pan with 3 tablespoons of butter ,5 teasppons of hot sauce,1 teaspoon of cayanne pepper a dash of salt and simmer very low .
Turning once as they turn 1/2 way pink. Approx 4 mins.
 Then put them over the top of the beans and rice.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Recycle Seed Starts


The last two weeks have been really warm so of course I got my seeds started.
We have snow today but the seeds are started and will be moved to the cat buckets under plastic in about 3 weeks.
My seeds are started in egg cartons inside recycled cake containers.
I set them on top of the freezer or fridge for a few days until they sprout then move to a towel on the kitcken island for another few weeks.
You just lift the egg cartons out cut apart and plant straight into the soil when there ready.

Recycle Cat Litter Buckets

Many of you have asked do I recycle.
Well of course.
I have a cat and there is nothing better then the cat buckets for ,well,everything.
In the winter they sit on the counter with my herbs growing in them.
In the summer they make great planters with a bit of new soil each year.
WE painted the buckets White and left the handles on .
I drilled holes in one all the way around and use it as a potato bin.
Cat litter buckets !

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Car Runs On Air ?

Apple BBQ Sauce REcipe

Chicken filet Crochet

INSTRUCTIONS:

Startinq at bottom of pattern chain 103. Chain 3 to turn which will count as first double crochet of first row. Ch 2 more and Double crochet in 9th chain from hook to complete bottom right open square of pattern. Continue following pattern for first row reading pattern right to left. After completing first row, chain 3 to turn to start next row. Continue following pattern until all rows are complete. At end of row 30 fasten off. (See "How to read pattern" below)

MATERIALS (based on crochet cotton size):
Using Crochet Cotton no. 5: about 131 yds, steel crochet hook US size 4
Using Crochet Cotton no. 10: about 116 yds, steel crochet hook US size 7
Using Crochet Cotton no. 20: about 109 yds, steel crochet hook US size 9
Using Crochet Cotton no. 30: about 102 yds, steel crochet hook US size 11
APPROXIMATE FINISHED SIZES:
Using Crochet Cotton size 5 width = 9.4 inches, height = 9.5 inches
Usinq Crochet Cotton size 10: width 7.8 inches, height = 7.5 inches
Using Crochet Cotton size 20 width = 7.5 inches, height = 7.2 inches
Using Crochet Cotton size 30: width = 7.1 inches, height = 6.9 inches
HOW TO READ PATTERN:
Each solid square is equal to 4 double crochets. Each open square is equal to 1 double crochet, followed by 2 chains followed by 1 double crochet. The double crochet at the end of each square also counts as the first double crochet of the next square. For example, a solid square followed by an open square is 4 double crochets, 2 chains, 1 double crochet.