New Year, New Recipe - Good Luck Greens and Peas

Even though Don and I are living in Kansas, our hearts belong to the South and its many traditions. The tradition of eating black eyed peas and greens (for luck and prosperity) on New Year's Day is one we've enjoyed - but only if someone else cooked it. Until now! Today I bring to you quite possibly the EASIEST recipe for greens and peas...it includes an entire ham so makes a perfect main meal, AND is done in the crock pot. Even though I am a day late for the New Year :) this is heavenly to serve on those cold winter nights we've got ahead of us. Top it off with another EASY recipe (quite possibly the most delicious cornbread ever) and you will be singing my praises in 2013!

Yes - I know my photography skills still suck it.  On the resolution list AGAIN! :)

Good Luck Greens and Peas with Ham (adapted from Southern Living recipe)
32oz vegetable broth
32 oz frozen black eyed peas (defrosted)
1 sweet onion, cut in to eigths
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2T light brown sugar
2T dijon mustard
1 smoked, fully cooked, semi-boneless ham (approx 5 lbs - we used one that was already sliced)
16oz package shredded fresh collard greens

Place first 5 ingredients in a 6qt slow cooker. Stir together brown sugar and mustard - rub over ham. Place ham in slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH 6-7 hours or until ham is tender.

Uncover and add collard greens. Cover and cook on HIGH 1 hour or until tender. Remove bone and stir to mix ingredients. Use slotted spoon to serve.

Shelia's Texas Cornbread
1 stick of butter, melted
3 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread mix
3 eggs
1 can cream corn
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Empty boxes of cornbread mix in to a bowl. Add eggs, cream corn, cheddar cheese and half of the melted butter. Mix together.

Pour the other half of the melted butter in to a 9x13 baking dish and spread to cover the bottom of the dish. Pour batter in to baking dish and cook at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Enjoy - and Happy New Year!

How To Build A Headboard From An Old Door

FINALLY!!!! Don and I have been talking about these headboards for months, but our schedules and the weather made this much more than a weekend project! We are SO thrilled with the results and wanted to share this how-to with you, so without further ado I am tickled to welcome my first guest blogger...my husband Don!

Hey everyone, this is my first attempt at blogging, and it shows due to my lack of pictures of the process.  Regardless, I hope that you find this blog helpful in putting together your own recycled door headboard.  You can find the instructions here, and if you are unable to download it from the link just contact Beth at aintshecrafty@gmail.com and she can email it to you directly. Please let me know if I can answer any questions if you are thinking about building your own headboard or need some help along the way. Good luck and happy building!

We had been looking for headboards for both our guest bed and our own bed for quite a while. Beth loves catalogs like Pottery Barn and we both like antiques, but we aren't crazy about paying the sometimes ridiculous prices. Beth pinned this headboard several months ago, and after looking at the Anna White Queen Headboard plans that the original poster used we headed out to a local salvage yard to find some reclaimed wood.  What we found was something even better (albeit a little more challenging), some old doors with great distressing and character. We brought them home and after cutting them down to size (remember to see my instructions for detailed information and measurements for each step of the project) I built the legs and cap around the door.

After building the frame, the next step was painting. Since these are headboards that are pressed against a wall I only painted the front facing side, which was much easier and a big time saver because I could just lay it on the ground and paint one side. I painted the entire queen headboard black...

but for the king headboard we wanted to retain some of the original color and distressing, so I masked off the panels with painters tape and some of Beth's scrapbooking cardstock.

After the paint dried it was simply a matter of mounting the headboard to the bed frame - and we had some beautiful new headboards for a fraction of the price we would have paid for buying one.

Thanks for checking out my first blog post, I look forward to your comments or questions. I hope you enjoy building your own headboard! --Don

Kids Crafts Saturday - Potato Painting for St Patrick's Day!

Looking for a fun and easy St. Patrick's Day crafts for the kiddos?  A potato, some paint and paper, and a little creativity makes for the perfect project!

SUPPLIES
potato
knifewhite cardstockmarkersWRMK Crop-a-Dile (or hole punch)ribbon
washable craft pain
paper plate/bowl 

Cut the potato in half, then carve your shape on the exposed edge (we used a chipboard heart for a template but you can also cut your shape freehand).


Use a bowl (or plate with raised sides) for the paint, so excess can be wiped off before stamping the potato on to the paper.

To create a clover - get paint on the potato, stamp the heart, then rotate 45 degrees for each leaf.  The kids used their fingers to create the stems - their favorite part!




Working with younger kids?  Don cut out a "handle" on one of the potatoes by cutting away the sides of the potato about halfway, then cutting a hole through the center.






To complete the project, let the kids write their names on the paper, then punch holes at the top, tie with ribbon, and set aside to dry.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Sparkly Snowflakes - Kids' Crafts Saturday

No...today isn't Saturday, but we made these on a Saturday - does that count?  :)

Actually - I call it Kids' Crafts Saturday because Don and I volunteer at the Fascinate-U Children's Museum in Fayetteville, NC on the second Saturday of every month (sponsored by Xyron - yay!).

We create fast and easy craft projects and have a BLAST doing it! I'm going to start sharing these projects here with you - maybe on Saturdays, maybe on other days, but I hope you'll be inspired to make these with some of your favorite little ones!

Supplies:
foam shapes (we got boxes of these snowflakes for a RIDICULOUSLY low price because all the stores were clearancing out holiday stuff)
markers
Xyron 5" Creative Station (also known as the 510)
glitter
tupperware container
scrap paper

Set out your scrap paper, markers and foam shapes on your craft space. (Tip - if your foam shapes have punch-outs in the middle, do NOT punch them out until after the glitter process. Trust me.)

Let the kids color on the foam shapes to their little hearts' content! (Another tip - if they color it TOO much the adhesive won't stick as well because the foam will be saturated.  We had more than 50 kids come through and it was really only an issue for about 4 of them - we solved that by just putting glitter on the non-colored side.)

 

Run your foam shape through your 510 (of COURSE I don't have a photo of this part!) with the colored side facing down. The 510 is easy enough to use that kids can help crank the handle! Peel off the top film, then peel the foam shape from the backing and place adhesive side down in your tupperware container filled with glitter.  You need enough glitter in the tupperware to make sure the bottom of the container is completely covered.

Help the kids move the foam shape around in the tupperware to cover the foam shape with glitter.  The beauty of Xyron is that if you pick it up and realize that you missed a spot - you can just stick it back down in the glitter!

And voila!  Sparkly snowflakes!  You can keep the foam shape intact,  or punch out the center for a cool shape.

Oh...and uhh...I held a snake.  :)  This has absolutely nothing to do with crafts - but it sure was awesome!

Happy Crafting Everybody!

Flat Kurt

This is our friend Kurt.

Kurt is a funny friend, easy roommate (he accidentally lived with us for six months last year), great husband, wonderful father, getter of Dairy Queen after dinner, dog lover, motorcycle rider, and soldier.

Next week he is leaving for a year to Afghanistan.

His wife Shealyn is also funny and fabulous and I would do anything for her, so when she sent me this message and photo:

Hey crafty lady, if I were to send you a good photo of Kurt, could you use your sticky goodness to make me a few of these so Daddy can go everywhere with us?

I was in.  I have been lucky enough to have Don home with me for the past year and it is a blessing I do not take for granted. So while I would make a million of these if it would help some of my fellow military families make deployment even a tiny bit easier, I wanted to post the instructions here (even if you don't think you are crafty it is VERY easy) for anyone who wants to make their own.

DIRECTIONS:

First, I took Kurt's photo and cropped it as tightly around his head as I could.

Then I printed out several copies on to 8.5x11 photo paper.

Now...here is where I am revising my original instructions - which were to cut out the face, put it on the chipboard, then cut it out again.  Why do it twice?  So sort of ignore the fact that the face is already cut out in some of the photos.  :)

I ran the 8x10 photo through my Xyron 9" Creative Station*,

adhered the 8x10 on to a piece of chipboard (you can use an empty cereal box in a pinch)

and cut out the face - for the FIRST time. (to quote Don: "Kurt needs to shave his head.  I can't cut out all these little pieces of gelled hair.")

Then I just took a paint stirrer (they are free at any home improvement store), added a little glue, and let dry!

*if you don't have one of these you can use a glue stick or a tape runner - just be sure to cover all of the edges as smoothly and evenly as you can.

I had to put these in the mail ASAP - Don was having a little TOO much fun with them.  Our dog - as you can see - was not.  :)

So these Flat Kurts are on their way to Texas - to two precious children who will spend the next year doing what military children have done for generations - growing and learning and playing and loving all while waiting for the day that their daddy is home to give them bear hugs and tuck them in at night.  If you have a friend, family member, neighbor or co-worker getting ready for a deployment with small kids, ask for a photo of their soldier and make a few of these. What a wonderful gesture and tangible way to let them know you are thinking of their family.

Love you Kurt and Shea and James and Sammi - already waiting for the day Kurt is back home safe with you.

2 balls + 4 t-shirts = halloween genius!

Thank you Pinterest, for the world's greatest Halloween costume idea.

Thank you organized craft room,  for letting me find a long enough piece of pink felt.

Thank you beachballs.com, for existing. (Have you ever tried to find a beach ball outside of the state of Florida in October?)

Thank you husband, for being man enough to be called "a giant boob" and letting other dudes fondle you all night.

Thank you said fondling dudes, for being aware enough to know what the pink ribbon stands for and thinking it was "pretty cool of you to put that on your costume" before going back to your jokes about motorboating.

Thank you Christy and Dave, for having a Halloween party. Apologies for our giant boobs knocking both plates and people to the ground throughout the evening. It was Don's fault - he doesn't know how to handle his boob.

Thank you Mom Jones, Karin, my Conyers, Lisa and all the other warrior women who remind us what strength and beauty really mean. Love the ta-tas!

surprise, surprise...more Xyron videos (and behind the scenes photos)!

I do do other things with my life than make Xyron videos - but I do love filming them and I do love my Xyron peeps!

We did a great series to celebrate craft month, including...

This easy and inexpensive guestbook (using the Xyron Everyday Stories system) that only takes a few minutes to put together and uses paper scraps and embellishments you already have at home!  This is PERFECT for newlyweds or as a housewarming gift, and can easily be used as a guestbook for a wedding/anniversary or birthday party as well.  I created something similar for my folks' 40th anniversary - everyone brought/sent a photo of themselves and a 3x5 index card with their favorite memory of my parents.  It was an incredible way to celebrate the people they've touched and gave them a lifetime full of memories in just one book.  Even if you don't consider yourself to be "crafty" this is a can-do project for you!

I was SO excited to be reunited with my buddy Jessica Barnett for this magnetic calendar project - I swear she is a creative GENIUS!!  Who walks in to a Home Depot, sees a sheet of metal, and thinks "oh yeah - I can make something awesome with that"?  I'll tell you who - Jessica!

Video shoots are LONG days and (if I get sidetracked...which usually happens after lunch) full of re-takes and close-ups and "are we done yet?" moments.  Good thing I am surrounded two of my favorite people on the planet - Julie and Rob!  Love you guys!

Julie is an 8-year breast cancer survivor!  We created this project (and a video that we'll release soon) to celebrate her and let people know about our Pink Ribbon X150. Xyron is proud to donate 50 cents from every Pink Ribbon X150 sold to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation Spread the word!

Rob and Julie - two of the best co-workers and friends a girl could ask for!

And this is what happens at the end of a very long day when the grown-ups leave the room for a minute.  'Nuff said.