Mod Podge

I am a strong believer in not buying what you can make. Mod Podge is a necessity for crafters, but costs around $10 per bottle! I hate to tell people who spend that $10, but you can make it for around $1.

All you'll need is white school glue, water, and a jar to mix it in.

Unscrew the cap to the glue & squeeze the glue into the jar.

Fill the glue bottle back up with hot water & pour it into the jar with the glue.

Put the lid on the jar & shake that bad boy! You're all set to decoupage!

You might want to label it to avoid any nasty confusion!

Bonus Post: Chicken (or Turkey) Salad

In order to help you get rid of your Thanksgiving leftovers, I'm doing an extra post this week!
I normally make this salad with chicken, but I still have an abundance of turkey in my fridge. To be completely honest, I use canned chicken for this recipe. I was super skeptical of using the canned stuff at first, but it's really a time saver!

Needed (amounts will vary depending on how many folks you're feeding):
Turkey (or chicken)
Mayo (or Miracle Whip, which we prefer)
Grapes
Apple
Almond or walnut pieces --optional, I left those out this time
Salt & Pepper
Rolls (I used bagels this time because that's what I had on hand)

Shred the meat.

Dice grapes & apples. Add them, salt, pepper, and nuts (if you're using them).

Add enough mayo to moisten it & make it all stick together.

Put on rolls (or bagels in this case).

It's also really yummy if you have fresh tomato, lettuce & onion. Just slice all those bad boys & add them on top! To help with portions, I made enough for 3 sandwiches. I used about half a turkey breast, 6 grapes, half an apple, and 2 tablespoons of Miracle Whip.

Christmas Card Holder

We live in a tiny apartment. Every Christmas (and birthday), we struggle to find space to put our cards that our family sends us. We both come from pretty large families and they're all big on sending cards. Granted, I could buy something to showcase them all, but the ones I found are a little pricey. I decided to make something instead.

I headed to the local thrift store & found some really cheap frames. I grabbed one of the biggest ones I could find.

Sorry for the pictures in this post. My apartment has the worst lighting known to man!

I removed the backing & matting (the glass was already gone) and painted it with black acrylic craft paint. You can skip this step if you're okay with the way the frame looks.

Then I glued white ribbon to the frame. Make sure the glue you use is safe for all the materials you're using and also, make sure you pull the ribbon taut.

It's now hanging in my hallway waiting for all those lovely Christmas cards!

Finally! A decent picture!

Leftover Turkey Sandwich

This marks the last of my daily posts. I will cut them back to Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I'm starting classes soon & along with working at my (real) job, I won't have time to do daily posts. But that's okay because I have something planned for you guys three times a week until March!

I don't know if you guys are like me, but I get tired of having Thanksgiving leftovers. I love the food, but the monotony of it all really bores me & I lose the desire to eat all the food that's left in my fridge. There's a really great bread store here & they have some really amazing sandwiches. They have this sandwich called "Turkey Dinner". It's great! When I first read it on the menu I thought it sounded disgusting, but my husband decided to give it a shot. It was so good, I stole half of it from him. But why go buy it when I have so much turkey at my dispense? They use cracked wheat bread, but I decided to put it on wheat for me and white for the hubster. (Sorry no pictures for this one! I forgot!)

Ingredients (amounts depends on your taste):
turkey
cream cheese
cranberry sauce
lettuce
bread (I toasted mine a bit before assembling the sandwich)

Mix cream cheese & cranberry sauce together.
Layer turkey, cranberry mixture, and lettuce on bread.
Enjoy! It's super easy & so yummy!

Cinnamon-Honey Butter

This recipe is pretty well-known. I've known about it for a few years now. I don't know where I originally got it though. It's really easy too!

Ingredients:
1c room temperature butter
1c honey
1c powdered sugar
2tsp cinnamon

Beat butter for about a minute. You just want to break it up a bit.

Add honey, sugar, and cinnamon and beat for another minute or so.

Scrape down sides and beat again until smooth.
You can put the butter in individual containers to give away to neighbors, or put it in a big one and keep it for yourself!

 It's great on rolls...toast...a spoon. Seriously folks, this stuff is so good I could just it as is. But I don't for fear of a heart attack.
It's also really easy to double, triple, whatever. You just need to remember to keep it equal parts butter, honey & sugar. Then, however many sticks of butter you used, that's how many teaspoons of cinnamon you need. Easy peasy!

The World's Best Dressing

Stuffing goes inside the turkey, dressing goes on the side (thank you college!). This has to be the best dressing recipe ever conceived! I made this for 6 people and had to hide the second portion to keep it from being eaten. It's not healthy in any way and is definitely NOT for vegetarians. So, animal lovers may want to scroll through this post really fast.

I originally got the recipe from a friend who got it from a friend who got it from a friend (this quickly turning into an REO Speedwagon song). I made some changes to fit our flavor palettes more.

Ingredients:

1lb bacon (get the cheap stuff, it works better & cut it up as best you can)

1lb sausage (just crumble it in your hand as you add it to the pot)

2 apples (peeled, cored, and diced)

1c mushrooms (chopped)

2c celery (chopped)

2 onions (chopped)--not pictured

1/2lb butter--not pictured

1lb dried bread cubes

2c vegetable stock

2tsp Italian seasoning

1tsp sage

Preheat oven to 350F. Put all the meat, veggies, and apples in a big stock pot & cook over medium until veggies are tender & meat is cooked through.

Add butter, stock, and seasonings. Cook until butter is melted, turn off heat, then add bread cubes.

Stir until cubes are well mixed then pour into baking dish (I had to use 2 because I didn't have one big enough). Cook for 30 minutes if you like crunchy. If not, serve as is. 

Keep in mind, this is only half!

Happy Thanksgiving!

In my family we don't decorate for Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving. However, this year I had to get started a little early because I'm making many of my decorations! I have fallen in love with pinterest & use it as a basis for many of my crafts.

Today I would love to share two recent accomplishments.
The first is my current "window treatment". Most of the time I make curtains to go along with the seasons, but I wanted something different this year. After seeing this, I was inspired! I saw some oversized ornaments at Dollar Tree. They have an assortment of colors, but none in black or white (which is what I chose to do this year). I grabbed some of the silver ones and headed to Wal-Mart. In case you didn't know, Krylon makes a spray paint that is great for plastics. I bought the can of white paint as well as some white ribbon & black ribbon. I painted the ornaments (sorry, no pictures. I'll work on that) and let them dry. I used the ribbon to hang them from my curtain rod. Here's the results:

The next craft is from here. She has loads of great ideas! The only changes I made to her instructions were these: cut the tube in 2 cm intervals, used hot glue (no need to use clothes pins), used acrylic paint instead of spray paint, and no glitter. 

Here's my results (in different stages of doneness):

To get the dots, I dipped a pencil eraser in paint.

I hope you all enjoyed these crafts & I have so many more to come! Have a great Thanksgiving!