Spider Greeting Cards

Happy Halloween! The holidays are such a great time to be indoors and break out the crafts. Here is a simple DIY card decoration for Halloween out of buttons, paper, string and glue. The paper for the cards are no specific measurements, as the envelopes I have are not standard ones. But break out some fun orange card stock or scrap-booking paper, your collection of buttons, and tacky glue to get creative!

Remodel Your Plants

It's spring and starting to warm up which means gardens and plants! I recently bought some plants that came in these ugly, thin, plastic, and cheap containers. Instead of buying some new pots/planters, this is a simple way to transform those ugly containers to cute and chic!

First step is to collect all of your supplies. For this project I decided to use some craft rope, but you could easily use any type of string or yarn that you'd like. Next is to grab some tacky glue and prepare to get your fingers a bit messy! (Optional: transfer the plant to another container so that it is easier to maneuver the planter you are decorating.) I then cut the pointed edges of the container to be rounded and started gluing!

Place a strip of tacky glue along the container's edge, starting at one of the top corners. Then place the end of the sting on that corner, holding for a few seconds, and then placing the rest of the string on the glue. Continue this all the way around the planter, being as tight or as loose and you'd like. I made mine pretty tight, gluing each string right under the previous line. Once you make it to the bottom, glue the end of the string tilted slightly under the container to hide it, holding it in place for a few seconds. The tacky glue will dry clear and you will be left with a cute new container for your plants! 

Easy, Quick, Healthy Bread

This recipe is 100% whole wheat bread, 2 hours to make, not dry and so delicious! You don't even need a rolling-pin! I got the original recipe from An Oregon Cottage but here's what ingredients I used, and how it turned out!

Makes 2 loaves. 

2 1/2 cups of water

1 1/2 tbs of yeast

6 cups of whole wheat flour

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup of honey

2 1/2 tsp salt

Add yeast, 2 cups of flour and warm water to a stand mixer. Make sure that your water is not hot but just luke warm to not kill the yeast. I used my Kitchen Aid mixer with a flat beater as the attachment and stirred the ingredients for 15 seconds. Let this sit for 20 minutes until the mix is "sponge like".

Add in the oil first, and then the honey and mix for a few seconds. Add in the rest of the ingredients; 4 cups of flour, and salt. Stir until dough becomes sticky, under 5 minutes. At this point, change the flat beater to the dough hook and bet for about 6 minutes. If the dough is still sticking to the sides of the bowl, you may need to sprinkle in more wheat. 

Oil 2 9x5 bread pans with cooking spray covering all corners. Take dough out on a floured surface and split in half with a knife. Shape to length and size of the bread pan, gently rolling and pinching seems together. Place both "loaves in a warm place and let sit for 50 minutes, covering with a towel. This step took about 60 minutes for my loaves to rise above the sides of the bread pan. 

Preheat the oven during the last 10 minutes of rising time. Place the pans on the same rack, cooking for 15 minutes. Rotate and flip the pans and place back in oven for another 15 minutes. 

After 30 minutes the bread should be done! Take out of pans and let cool for about 10 minutes. Cut into thin or thick slices, I got about 14 slices from each loaf. I store my bread in old bread bags that bread comes in from the store. Perfect way to store them!

Show Some Love

With February being the month of love, I would just like to share some different gifts and notes that I sent my husband when we were dating long-distance. I sent him a few things leading up to Valentines Day all through the mail system! It was so fun and my husband definitely felt loved! Feel free to get creative and add your own personality to each of these, anything you do will make your soul-mate feel special!
Holding Hands:
I sent him my hand print on card stock with this cute quote stating, "My heart is at home when my hand is holding yours." I wrote the quote out, but you could easily print it on paper first and then dip your hand in pant and place it on! (I sent this through the male in a manila envelope.)

Bursting with Love! 
For this gift you get a normal balloon and fill it with confetti! I used a hole punch and cut out tons of hearts and circles and placed them all into a deflated balloon. I then wrote on a tiny strip of paper, "I am bursting with love for you!" and slipped it into the balloon as well. To mail this item, I taped the opened end flat onto a card and wrote Step One: Remove carefully, Step Two: Blow Up, Step Three: Pop!. I was able to place it in an envelope and mail it with two stamps.

Yoda Best:
My husband is a big fan of Starwars, so I sent him a fun Starwars themed love letter! I made this simply through word, typing out the words and then pasting and formatting a picture of Yoda to say, "Yoda Best". On the inside of the card I used even more Starwars references by stating "...and the Obi-Wan for me. I'm thinking together, we can rule the galaxy!". I thought I was pretty clever :). This was easily mailed in an envelope as a normal letter.

I'm Nuts About You:

For this gift I used a Pringles can, scrapbook paper and Word to send him a container full of peanuts! I used the scrapbook paper to wrap and decorate the can securing it with masking tape. I also printed the address on a separate paper and taped that onto the can as well (as shown below). I then used a punch to cut out a circle to tape on the inside of the lid where I wrote, "I'm NUTS about you!". I then taped it up very securely and mailed the Pringles can just like that! 

Love You to Pieces:
For this gift I took a cheap and simple Valentines Day puzzle and put it together. Then carefully I flipped the puzzles to the back and wrote, "We just fit together! I love you to PIECES!" decorated with hearts. I then broke the puzzle up and sent him the puzzle in the mail in an envelope for him to put together and read my message.

Long-Distance Hug:
For this act of love sent him a long-distance hug! I first cut out paper as long as my one of my arm's wing span and taping pieces of paper together. I then cut out another strip of paper equivalent to my one arm wing span. On these strips of paper I wrote, "Here's a HUG, just for you! I wanted to let you know how much I care about, and miss you!". I traced and cut out two of my hands, and a heart, for the middle. I then glued one end paper to a hand and the heart, and the other strip of paper to the other hand and middle heart. (See pictures for an example). I then folded the paper in an accordion fold with each hand on the outsides, holding the heart in the middle. This all fit flat in an envelope to mail.

Kisses:
This was one of my favorite one to make, a page full kisses given from my own lips! For this I used two different shades of lip stick, placing the lips on the paper for bold and faded kisses. Tip: Practice on another sheet of paper before attempting and find your favorite style to do. I found that literally kissing the paper did not look very good, so I more like placed me lips on the paper so you could see more definition of my lips.) :)

Pictures:
On other days I just sent cute photos of me holding different Valentine Day signs and sayings. Get goofy and creative!

Stove Top Mexican Rice

Mexican rice is such an easy and delicious side that goes great with any authentic meal! This recipe is a combination of a few recipes I've tried and enjoyed, so I hope you enjoy is as well!

1 cup of white long-grain rice

1 T of canola oil

1 1/2 cups of chicken broth

1 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes

1 tsp of chili powder

1/2 tsp of garlic powder

1/2 tsp of oregano 

1 tsp of cumin 

I can or 1/2 cup of diced green chilies (optional)

Place oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Stir in the rice to golden, takes about 5-7 minutes. Add in chicken broth, non-drained can of tomatoes, chilies if desired and all spices and bring the mix to a boil. Turn down to low heat, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes (Do not lift the lid during simmering time). Remove from heat and let cool adding pepper to taste if desired.