How to: paper mache snowman heads!

A couple years ago I made some snowman heads for my tree:

I wanted to do something similar for this year's ornament swap....without the hat and frill. 

Since I had to make so many this time around, I thought I'd share the main process here.   This made 14 "heads."

Here are the supplies I used:

glitter
DAS premade paper mache "dough"
ping pong balls
drill with teeny bit
teen eye screws
paints
modge podge
paint brush and sponge brush
little bowl of water

this is what DAS looks like.  Use a coupon, it can be pricey.

Take your DAS and pinch off 14 equal sized blobs.  Roll each blob into a ball and set aside, keeping covered so they don't dry out.

Here is the ping pong ball brand I use, cheapos from Walmart.

 To get started, fllatten a ball of DAS and wrap it around the ping pong ball.  Using a teeny bit of water, smooth out lumps and edges.  Set aside and do the others.  

Once the heads are done, start the noses.  Make teeny cone shapes and carefully attach to the face.  Smooth out edged where the nose meets the face.  Now set aside to dry overnight or even for a couple of days.

Once dried, take the smallest drill bit and make a teeny hole where you want the hook to hang.  Use a bit smaller than the eye screw so it won't fall out.

Then paint your carrot nose and face and let dry.  Sorry, I forgot to take a photo! (Now Kaela said I should have made them into Gru faces or even Penguin heads...at this point, it is up to you.  I opted to stay with snowman heads.)

Once the face is painted and dried, "paint" your snowman heads with Modge Podge and sprinkle with glitter.  I actually used a bowl and dunked mine.    Let them hang and dry for a few days.  Then go BACK and check for coverage.  I hung mine in the washroom!

If you are weird, like me, and want the hook to be glittery, turn them over and glitter the eye screw the same way.

After that, you simply attach the hooks and you have a bowl of happy snowman heads.

Of course, I put one on my own tree!

DIY Dog steps

We've never owned a "springy" corgi before.   Until now.  Which can be a problem.   Corgis are not supposed to be jumpers because of their long backs.  
Well, tell that to our dog.
Osa jumps onto the BED, sofa, chairs...just about anything the cat can jump up on.   If it weren't for her back, I wouldn't worry.  But I don't want a dog with wheels....so..........I decided she needed to be trained to use steps.  And to stay off the bed.  She has her own bed, no need to get on ours!

I looked for steps and the ones I brought home were skinny and plastic and she wouldn't use them.   Back to the store.  The only other types I found were incredibly expensive and had to be special ordered.   My sister has some foam ones that I considered but I decided to try and make some first.

I got the idea off pinterest about 2 months ago and saved some boxes.  (I just love summer, I simply didn't have the time to do this during the school year!)

First of all, I got my boxes together.   I used a low wide boot box for the bottom and some wind chime boxes for the "step."   I filled them first with stuffing so they could hold a corgi!  Corgis may be short but they are like walking watermelons so the steps had to be sturdy enough for that.  

One of my boxes needed some length so I tore another box apart to use it for that support.   Then I taped it all together like so:

Afterwards, I went upstairs (with Osa in tow) and got out my batting.   After watching Osa tunnel through the batting like a mole and taking photos of her doing that....LOOK AT THE HEART ON HER BUTT!!!!!

...I got back to work and wrapped and taped the steps.  They looked like this:

The last step was to "upholster" them. Hahaha...upholster, riiiiight!  
I just cut out and sort of pieced the fabric together.

The best part is that she used them right away with no problem.  Up and down she goes!

Oh and since you haven't seen her today, here she is in all her floofy glory!

She weighs 23 pounds now, my little girl is growing up.

Wrist pincushion...

I was mailing something to a friend the other day and wanted to add a little something extra.  Nothing major as I was busy with another project I'll share later this week.

Kerry is like me and can always use pincushions so I made her this cute wrist pincushion she can wear while doing light jobs like hemming.

Here is how I made it.

I took the lid from a drink bottle a drilled a couple holes in it.  

Then I tied some elastic band through the holes and tied 2 knots.  One at the end and one closer in to tighten it up.   I pulled them into the lid and glued them down.

On to the actual pincushion.  I cut a circle of fabric and stuffed it and sewed it up.  Once that was done, I hot glued the ball of stuffing down into the lid, covering the elastic up.

 I ended up using 3 pieces of trim because the lid was wide.   I used baby piping to cover the bottom that meets your skin.  On top of that, I use a piece of single ply bias tape.  The top piece is just ric rac.  (I have no idea why I didn't take a photo of that process...oops.)

I think it turned out cute for a 20 minute project and would be super easy to do a more elaborate pincushion in the same way

I'm sure you could use a thin pony tail holder instead of the elastic but I like how stretchy the elastic is, especially when making something as a gift.  

April's challenge: Cherub Pod Hot House

This month's challenge is to repurpose something.  I made (drumroll...)


"Cherub Pod Hot Houses!"

Our family loves tomatoes and we eat all types all year long.  Lately we've been eating Cherubs brand in these cute little pods.

When empty, they look like little mini terrariums.   

I hated throwing them away so decided to use them to start some sunflowers for Kaela...they are her FAVORITE flower and I just can't seem to grow them.  

So here's how I did it....

I took some coffee filters and cut them to size.

and stuffed them down into each pod so soil wouldn't fall out the holes.

Then I filled each with a little soil and mixed in some seeds and watered them ALOT...had to let the water drain!

Then, I covered each pod with plastic wrap to create a little hot house

And set them on the warmest window ledge in the house.

In less than 8 days, I had to uncover them!  I loosened the wrap so you can see but left it on lightly because the window gets chilly at night.  

Once they got too tall for the pod, I replanted them into

a pot on the patio.  

These worked so well, I did the same thing with 2 more varieties of sunflower.   I didn't even bother putting these on the ledge in the house.

They've also been transplanted and are thriving!

Drying parsley

Each fall, I harvest and dry my oregano.   This past year, I had some extra basil and dried that too.  I bought 10 bottles from a thrift store for 50 cents each and used some labels and chalk to dress them up before giving them away.  Fresh dried herbs are the best!  You know where they come from and they aren't dust....you can actually see the leaves.

The other day, I noticed that my flat leaf parsley was out of control....in a beautiful way. I cook with parsley but there was no way I could use all this.   I didn't want to waste it or let it go to bloom so I decided it was time for a hair cut.   I can always use more dried parsley!  

Here is how I dry my herbs....

First whack them and shake them HARD to get rid of anything creepy crawly on them.   Pull out anything not pretty.  Using about 18 inches of kitchen twine, tie them in smallish bundles upside down.  I use a slip knot.  
After knotting,run the twine through a branch below the knot.  That way, as it dries, the stems won't fall out of the slip knot.

Then stuff them leaf side down into brown paper lunch bags, let the twine hang out of the bag and clip the bag closed.  I clip mine closed right by the stems.  Don't overfill the bags or you run the risk of getting mold.

You can do this step without the bags but I like to use the bags because it catches anything that dries and falls off.  Sometimes I let them dry a few days without the bags and then add them later.

Then tie them to the rail in the wash room.  I use a slip knot here too.  This room gets hot and dry.  Perfect for drying herbs and letting bread dough rise!

Now all I have to do is let time do the work.  Once dried, I can strip the stems and put the parsley into the bottles I have.  

Teeny Tiny Toadstools...

Okay, so I made a bunch of teeny toadstools when creating these ornaments:

I've had a couple emails asking about them.....so thought I'd share the process.  This isn't a complete tutorial because I didn't take photos of the entire process.  That being said, if you are crafty at all, this will give you the general idea.

The items you'll need are:

hot glue gun for the moss
E6000 to glue the caps to the stems
polymer clay in white and red
clear nail polish to use as a clear coat
tiny wreaths
bits of moss, torn into inch sized pieces
floral wire, cut into 4 inch lengths
floral foam to hold the toadstools
tooth picks for painting dots
white paint for dots
small paint brush for it's tip to make toadstool caps.

First I made a ton of poly clay toadstool caps and stems.  I used red for the caps and white for the stems and made a variety of shapes of both.

1.  To make the caps, take a small pea size piece of clay.  Use the wooden tip of the paint brush and make a slight depression in the cap.  This is where the stem will fit into.  It doesn't have to be perfect.

2.  To make the stems, roll a pea size piece of clay between your fingers creating a tip at one end and a larger base at the other. 

Mass produce these before moving on.  You will NOT put the stems and caps on before baking.

3.  Cut a 4 inch piece of floral wire and insert it into the stem as far as it will go without poking through the top.

4.  Set everything on a baking sheet, spaced apart.  Bake according to directions and let cool.

5.  After baking, attach the stems to the caps with a little dot of E6000.  Let dry completely.

Once dry, I used a block of floral foam to hold the little toadstools up while finishing them. Here you can see how small they are.  Notice I didn't unwrap the foam.    Here they all are, ready for polka dotting.  

6.  To make the polka dots, dip a toothpick into the white paint to make the dots and just tap all over the cap until they look like you want them to.

Once painted, they look like this...let them dry completely.

7.  Coat everything with clear nail polish.   I use nail polish because it doesn't yellow, it drys without a sticky residue and I always have some on hand.  Let dry completely.

8.  To wire, take your tiny wreath and wire three of the toadstools to it like in the photo. I pushed the wire through some of the vine and around some, just securing it as I went.  Try to wire them as close as possible so it is easier to hide with the moss.  

Continue making all your wreaths in the same manner....mass production style.

9.  The last step is to cover the wires.  You'll need to tear some packaged moss into little bits then hot glue some of the moss onto the wreath to cover the wires.  

No need to work it between the toadstools, just fluff the moss up.  It is easy to move the toadstools since they are on wires.  Just push them aside, fluff the moss, and push them back into position.  You can always add more moss if needed.

Easy Peasy Salami Bread and Marinara Sauce...

A long, long time ago in a far away land, my sweet sister gave me an easy "new to cooking" recipe...and today I thought I'd share it with you!  It is seriously one of those "no-fail" recipes that a working girl can throw together quickly.  Just be sure to get the dough out of the freezer before heading to work!

Salami Bread (makes ONE loaf)

Frozen bread loaf
1 package salami (I use beef)  
1 package sliced provolone or mozzarella  OR shredded mozzarella
marinara sauce, *recipe below
garlic powder
Italian seasoning
(Note: you can use more salami and cheese than this, the amount you use is really a personal preference.)
Take out one loaf of frozen bread and thaw it out according to package instructions.  I'm making two to show you a variation.  Be sure to spray the plastic wrap with oil or the dough will stick!

Let them rise and rise and rise!  

Once it is thawed and has risen, punch it down and roll it out into a rough rectangle.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  I tend to roll mine and then stretch it a bit.  Don't forget to flour the board or counter so it doesn't stick.

Once the rectangle is done, sprinkle it with the seasonings .  I don't measure it but I'd say a teaspoon of each, maybe a little more.
Then layer the meat and cheese on top of that.  There are 8 slices of salami to a pack...2 are hidden under the cheese...

If you don't have sliced cheese, you can use shredded instead...just don't overload it.  Also, keep the cheese a bit away from the edge so the seam can close.

Roll it up jelly roll style, starting with a short end.  Don't be gentle, stretch the dough and secure the seam well.  Dough is so forgiving, just pull and yank until you get it the way you want it.  

Then pinch the ends closed.  This loaf has more meat and cheese in it, can you tell?  hahaha

Now put the loaf into a greased loaf pan, seam side down.  If you don't put the seam side down, the bread will open and all the stuff will pop out!  You can see the one of the left had more stuff inside of it so it is bigger (we ate that one first...)

Bake at 350 until golden brown.  About 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven.  You are only baking the bread, not the salami, so once the bread is done, everything is done!

Let it cool 5-10 minutes so the cheese won't glob out everywhere.

*For the sauce:

Saute half an onion that has been minced, (or rehydrate a palmful of dehyrated minced onions and saute a moment) add 4 crushed cloves of garlic, 1 can tomato paste, 1 small can tomato sauce,  2 cups of water. Juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp sugar and a scant tsp of chili powder for kick.*

To serve,  put a puddle of  marinara sauce on a plate and place a thick slice of the bread right on top.   YUM.

I serve this with a simple salad and it is always a hit.  Too bad Matt wasn't here to enjoy it this week!