Tutorial Tuesday: Pot holders...but not what you think

On the day I came across Obsessively Stitching in my web travels, she was finishing up her pot holder week. No she wasn't showing off all her different kinds of pot holders, she had a whole weeks worth of ideas of what you can do with pot holders...making them into many different useful things. Each idea comes complete with step by step instructions and pictures.

pot holder Seat belt covers
pot holder Travel "sewing Project" kit
pot holder Makeup bag
pot holder Clutch wallet

My favorite Idea was the pot holder quiet book. Cute, easy, fast. Another item to add to my Christmas To Do list.

sorry

If you were looking forward to today's Food Friday post, I am sorry that I didn't post one. I've been too tired, and still to tired to think of anything clever...so I am heading off to bed. Maybe I'll make it up tomorrow.

The magic number 57

Well it's all over folks. My Totally Random Give-away i over. I was a little worried there for a bit that I wouldn't reach my preselected number of comments. But Kelly O Made it happen with her comment on my Tutorial Tuesday: Bunny Bowling post the 57th comment. Kelly made a comment on nearly every post since the announcement of the Random Give-Away and she is a follower of my blog. So lucky Kelly will win her favorite item in my shop, which I believe is this carseat canopy. Along with this she will receive a special surprise that she will just have to wait to see what it is. Thank you all for reading my blog and leaving comments. I love to read what you are all thinking. Keep reading and keep commenting.

Tutorial Tuesday: Elegant Hexagonal Pillow

Isn't this a fun pillow? I found it over at Sew 4 Home. I love these colours! Unfortunately they will not match any of my holiday decor. So either I will have to buy the whole collection of fabric and start all over, or I will have to find some other fabric to make this pillow to match the rest of what I currently have.
There are even more tutorials to do up your entire living room and dining room.
What fun! Like these! I think I am going to make Stocking like these this year.




p.s. Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into my random giveaway. click here for details.

Food Friday: Salsa

There was once a day when I didn't have a lot of room for food storage. We lived in a small apartment with a tiny kitchen. I hadn't yet ventured into the world of canning, not for the lack of knowledge or experience (I've done it with my parents for as long as I can remember), but mostly for lack of space and tools. Then one day I came across a canner at a second hand store for just a few bucks. I had to have it. Then I found some other basic canning tools on sale at the SuperStore. I was now set for some simple canning. One of the first things I decided to make was Salsa. One of our favorite snacks is nachos and salsa. I used a recipe from my trusty 4-H club cook book(the best wedding gift ever...just in case I hadn't mentioned that yet). I bought a 20lb case of tomatoes and all the rest of the ingredients. This was before my days of being able to grow most of the ingredients myself. The salsa was to die for. The only problem was that I hadn't made enough and when we ran out and had to buy salsa from the store we were so disappointed, and I vowed to always make enough salsa to get us through until the next fall.

Since that day, we have never run out of salsa and often have enough to share with neighbours and good friends. We moved to Lethbridge the year after that. I had a small garden space and my neighbour let me use her space as well. With that I was able to plant tomatoes, onions and some peppers...my salsa garden. I started making salsa with a friend of mine who wanted to learn how to can. Together we tweaked the recipe from the 4-H cook book to create the recipe I use today, we called it Mandy and Toni's best salsa we ever made.

Here is the recipe for a 12 litre(3 gallon) stock pot

3/4 full stock pot of chopped peeled tomatoes(about 15lbs...I am totally guessing, I really have no idea because I don't buy my tomatoes I use the ones I grow in my garden)
3 red peppers (or orange or yellow I use what ever I have on hand)
2 green peppers
4 large onions
1 1/2 heads of garlic
6 stalks of celery
handfull of cilantro
1 good sized zucchini, grated skin included(again this is garden grown)
5-7 jalepeno peppers with seeds
1/3 cup pickling salt
2 cups sugar
1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper(optional)
2 cups vinegar

To easily peel tomatoes, place in boiling water for about 60 seconds and then put in cold water. the peels will split and can then be easily removed. Hand chop tomatoes for chunkier salsa. Chop all other vegetables in a food processor or hand chopper if you have one to save time. Combine all vegetables in stock pot with salt, sugar, vinegar and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least an hour. Fill sterilized jars and process for 15 minutes.


For the past 4 years, I've been making salsa with friends. We have a day long salsa making party. We divy up the ingredients, bring your own bottles and we simply spend an afternoon chopping and chatting. Then we all go home to our husbands smelling like salsa with our jars of goodness. It's a grand time. This year we got together a couple of times, we'll see if we ended up with enough salsa to last until next fall.


p.s. Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into my random giveaway. click here for details.

Tutorial Tuesday: Witches Cauldron

So for Halloween this year my 7 year old wants to be a witch again. Up until yesterday she wanted to be a princess musketeer. She had watched some Barbie three Musketeer movie and that is what she wanted to be. It's a good thing I haven't actually started making the costume. This happens every year. She has a great Idea of what she wants to be, and then days before Halloween she changes her mind, some time even the day before or the day of. This has never been a problem in the past because we have a tickle trunk full of dress up clothes and as long as she changes her mind to something that is in the trunk then it is no big deal. So I had put off making a princess musketeer dress for her until this week. I had found a pattern in my collection that I thought would be perfect. I had recently bought some shiny purple material for 99 cents a meter just to add to my stash but was also perfect for the dress. But yesterday after school she told me that she really wanted to be a witch again because she didn't want to break her new tradition. Last year is really the only year that she has actually followed through with being a witch. Every other year she has changed her mind. I think last year was different because she put the costume together all by herself.

Spooky isn't she? Truly a wicked witch. You should have heard her cackle...it was scary.
So this year I wanted to help her add something to an already great costume. I was looking around on one of my favorite sites to inspire new ideas, One Pretty Thing, and I came across this ideaA Creepy bubbling witches cauldron. I have a plastic pumpkin trick-or-treat bucket that I think I'll spray paint all black and create this cauldron for her to carry with her, She'll probably just take it with her to her school party but I think it will be a nice addition to her costume.




p.s. Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into my random giveaway. click here for details.

Food Friday: Apple Pie in a Jar

I love apple pie and I love apple crisp even more. So I love this recipe to make the making of either apple pie or apple crisp quicker, simpler and just as tasty.

recipe

4 1/2 cups sugar
(variation 2 cups brown sugar and 2 1/2 cups white sugar)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pickling salt
10 cups water
1 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup lemon juice
10 lbs apples
(variation 1 1/2 cups cranberries)

Makes 7 quart jars

mix sugar, spices, salt and cornstarch in a large pot. Add the water and cook on medium heat until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Add lemon juice. Peel and slice apples. Fill prepared jars with apples and ladle sauce over top to with in 1 inch of top. Process for 20 minutes. When ready to use, dump into prepared pie crust, cover with top crust. Cut slits in tops crust, brush melted butter on crust and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400F for 40 minutes.

Or you can put it in an 8x8 pan and put the apple crisp topping on top and bake as you would apple crisp.


The cranberries added a little different twist to an already delicious recipe. You should give this one a try, It is delicious!

If you have an apple peeler and an apple corer slicer(like the one from Pampered Chef) or an apple/peeler/slicer combo it makes this really easy and fast. I have a peeler like the one on the left and a corer slicer like the one on the right and they work great. My mom has the combo like the one below which is also great.

p.s. Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into my random giveaway. click here for details

Wonderful Web find Wednesday's: Free Christmas projects

Here this is a link to fill your mind with all sorts of other crafts and projects to do for Christmas...just in case you didn't have enough already.

Here's just a few ideas

There are tonnes of great crafts for kids including these Christmas Goodie Cans

There are these beautiful ribbon snowflakes

Here's a fun Snowman swag

These Faux Metal Ornaments would be fun to make too..

There are so many ideas and projects to keep you busy from now until Christmas. I doubt you'll even get through all that you plan. There is something for everyone, for any crafter no matter what you prefer to work with. So go take a look and see what you can see.


p.s. Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into my random giveaway. click here for details