Recycled Gift Tags

Home made gift tags - super easy and cheap too!

Another great garage sale find -  a set of cards from a Rolodex. When I saw them at the sale I immediately thought of "gift tags."   I paid 25 cents for a bundle of about 100 cards. 

To make the cards a little more interesting I decided to coffee stain them.  It is fairly simple.  I mixed up a batch of instant coffee and quickly dipped each card in the coffee.

I placed the cards on a microwave safe dish.  Layering them is fine - I try and get as many done at one time as possible.

Microwave on high for a minute. The edges will begin to curl as they dry. 

After a minute I flipped them over and put them back in the microwave for another 30 seconds (be careful they will be hot and steamy).   I continued to microwave them in 20-30 second intervals until they were almost totally dry.

Now the fun began.  My friend Anne and I gathered up a variety of scrap-booking supplies and headed over to visit our friend's sister, Wanda,  who was home bound after having ankle surgery.  We spread out the supplies and went to town creating a variety of gift tags.  Once we came up with a design we developed an assembly line to make the process go more quickly.

Here's what we came up with.....

In just a few hours we made over 150 gift tags and we helped Wanda's afternoon go more quickly. 

As an after thought, Anne made some of her tags into cards!  Love it!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds - salty, crunchy and oh, so addictive!

It always surprises me how many people have never made pumpkin seeds.  I think it is just wrong to carve open a pumpkin and throw away all those glorious, yummy seeds. We love them so much  I always buy extra pumpkins just so we have more seeds to eat.

Yes, it is a gooey, yucky task, but ohh so worth it!

Here is my recipe for pumpkin seeds.

Supplies:  baking sheet, EVOO, sea salt, wash pumpkin seeds, pre-heat oven to 400.

After collecting all the pumpkin seeds from your jack-o-lantern, rinse them in a colander, trying to get as much of the goo off as possible. Let them drip for a few minutes while you prepare your baking pan.
Place about 2 Tablespoons of EVOO on the pan and spread it around.  Dump the washed seeds on the pan and gently toss in the EVOO.  Generously sprinkle with sea salt.   Place in the middle rack of your oven.  Bake for 20 -30 minutes.  Check on them a couple times.   Stir them around a little and add some more sea salt and continue to bake until they turn a nice golden brown and look dry and crispy.  Store in a Ziploc bag or air tight container.

Yumm!  One of our favorite fall snacks!

Softball Wall Flower

Last year I found this little project in an issue of Flea Market Style magazine.  I have held onto the magazine waiting for the perfect opportunity to make one.  I liked it so much I wanted to share the project, so my friend Janelle and I decided to offer it as one of our classes at Sugar Creek Homestead.

Supplies needed:

3 used softballs or baseballs (each flower requires 1 1/2 balls)

decorative button or object for the center

hemp or heavy thread

hot glue

Tools needed:

pointy scissors

nail or sharp object to pierce holes 

heavy duty sewing needle

Step 1.  Clip the thread on the balls. Pull skin off the center. Remove threads.

Step 2:  Layer 3 skins, centering them to make the petals equal distances. Punch  2-4 holes (depends on how many holes you have in your button)  in the center of the skins.  Be sure to punch through all the layers.

Step 3: Sew skins together with heavy thread.

I started going down through the top, being sure not to pull the thread all the way through,

 then back up through to the front.

It should look like this. Leave the thread long enough to lace through the buttons.

Step 4: Attach button and tie the thread in a square knot.  Trim the thread.

Step 5: Finishing touches. You can hot glue your flower onto any type of board. I used rusty, twisted baling wire to represent the leaves and stem of the flower.  To attach the wire, I drilled holes into the wood, just deep enough to set the wire in, then used hot glue to help hold the wire in place. The magazine also suggests framing the flower, attaching it to a hat or tote bag, or adding a wire stem and place it in a vase.

Here are some pictures from our class.

For the class, the ladies put their softball flowers on old door panels we picked up at the flea market. The paint on the panels was perfectly old and chippy. 

Such a beautiful display of flowers!

Field Tile Pumpkin

  In this little project I use an old piece of clay field tile I found in the barn and create a fun and festive fall decoration for the home.

Tile drainage is the agriculture practice of removing excess water from soil subsurface. Back in the day farmers used clay tile such as these. Clay field tile is no longer used by most farmers, instead today's plastic tile serves to reduce the cost, as well as labor involved in tiling a field.  

But lucky me we still have piles of the clay tile in the barn "just in case" 

one of the old clay tiles in the field breaks.  

These clay field tile are the perfect shade of orange for a pumpkin.  

So I cleaned a few up and painted pumpkin faces on them.

Next, I hot glued a piece of felt to the bottom to keep the clay 

from scratching the surface where the tile is placed.

To get the look I wanted, I stained over the entire tile with a 

walnut colored stain.

  

Finally I sprayed the tile with a clear satin sealer.  

There you have it - a fun pumpkin tile perfect for decorating your country home.  I added some Sweet Annie sticking out the top, but I also think bare branches would look adorable popping out the top or you can just keep it plain and simple.

Bag of Blocks

Last week I had the best time going to garage sales with a friend.   One of the many treasures I found was a bag of old blocks.  

Remember playing with these when you were a kid? 

*  making roads and houses

*stacking them as high as you could before they all came tumbling down 

*clapping them together to make noise and marching around the room

I knew with a bottle of Mod Podge and a few scrapbooking supplies I could transform these old blocks into something wonderful.

One of my favorite craft supplies is Mod Podge.  

Everyone needs to have a bottle on hand at all times - it is a must!

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love to antique almost everything I make. So  I have a bottle of "antiqued"  Mod Podge in the cupboard as well.  

To make "antiqued" Mod Podge just add a couple of tablespoons of instant coffee to your bottle.  Let the coffee dissolve, adding more until the desired consistency has been achieved.  

The "antiqued" Mod Podge  will give your crafts a slightly aged look.

See what I did with a few of the blocks......

I simply printed quotes with my printer and Mod Podged them onto the blocks.  Tip: before using Mod Podge  I sprayed the words with a thin coat of clear acrylic sealer.  The printer ink will smear if you don't seal it first.

Embellishments can be added by wrapping wire, ribbon or jute around the block.
This gives a nice dimensional look to your block.

Here I mod podged the paper onto the block.  After it dried completely I sanded the edges and then stained it with a walnut stain.

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Quick, easy and simple  

Makes a perfect little gift

Here are some ideas:
* a quote about sportsmanship for your child's coach
* a quote about teaching for a teacher's desk
* a quote about hope for a friend or family member with cancer
* a block with just a simple word or two can have an impact on someone 
* you can rip pictures and words out of the newspaper or a magazine
* use photos to make it even more personal
* set them on a bookshelf, windowsill or dresser

The possibilities are endless.....

The Secret to Amazing Pasta Sauce

My family thinks I make amazing pasta sauce using fresh tomatoes from the garden (the secret is I get a little help from Mrs.Wages..... shhh don't tell!) The sauce is full of robust seasoning and has a punch of flavor in every bite.  My husband and kids love it and you will to -  it is super easy.  

You can freeze it, can it or serve it fresh.  

All you need is 18 medium tomatoes and a bag of  Mrs. Wages Pasta Sauce tomato mix.  







Step 1: Wash your tomatoes and scald a few minutes in boiling water.  Just long enough for the skins to crack. 

Step 2: Place the tomatoes in cold water. Once cooled, remove skins, cut out cores and squeeze out excess juices.

Step 3: Puree in blender until smooth

Step 4: Combine puree, Pasta Sauce Mix,1/4 c. sugar  and small can tomato paste (I add this to make the sauce thicker) in large pot and bring to a boil.  Stir occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes.

When your sauce is done you can serve it immediately, freeze it or can it in a hot water bath for 40 minutes (directions are on the bag).

I can my sauce using a hot water bath.

The taste of FRESH tomato sauce is amazingly delightful  in the middle of winter.

The sauce is a bit thinner than store bought sauce, but it is full of fresh flavor - something you can't get from a jar.