Merry Christmas!

Monday starts my posts on easy & cheap Christmas presents. To get you in the mood here's my Christmas tree!

Painted Bottle

I'm amassing an impressive collection of bottles. Or, at least, I think it's impressive. I've been collecting them since I was in high school and these are the ones that have made it through all our moves.

I recently added a new bottle to my collection, but it was very plain. I decided to dress it up a little.

You'll need:
a bottle
hot glue
spray paint

Create some sort of design on the bottle. Let the glue set.

If you need to, draw the design on the bottle first using disappearing ink.

Spray paint it and let it dry.

It may take more than one coat. Be sure to
let each coat dry before applying a new one.

Done! Now it doesn't look quite so out of place.

OH-Next week starts my series on cheap/easy Christmas gifts for all you last minute Santas.

Fabric Rings

Our new place has 2 bathrooms! We feel like we've really stepped up in the world! That means 2 bathrooms I get to decorate! Woohoo! I did our bathroom in white: white shower curtain, white bathmat, etc. The guest bathroom I wanted a beach theme because, ya know, we live at the beach. I wanted the people visiting us to really feel like they're welcome, too.

I found a cute shower curtain on the cheap:

I don't know if you can tell, but it has seashells all over.

I hung a picture that I did that I thought looked like the sun (sort of):

It's actually a slice of grapefruit on a negative scanner.

My mom gave us some cute lighthouses:

The picture was from a vacation we took to Cozumel.

And I made these guys:

You'll need:
embroidery rings
fabric
glue

Cut the fabric a little larger than the rings. Apply glue to the inside of the rings & press the fabric into it. Trim off the excess fabric. Tada!

Glue artwork

I hate bare walls. I think no matter where you live, you can always make it "home" with something on your walls. Whether it's pictures (I have tons of them) or art (not so much), decorated walls makes a place more lived it.

I decided to make some art, but I'm not all that artistic. I mean, I take pictures, but that's where my art life ends. If you're less-artistically inclined like myself, this may be for you!

You'll need:


a blank canvas
glue (I used hot glue because you'll need it to stay 3-dimensional)
stencil, optional
paint (either spray or regular) (one color)

Put glue on the blank canvas. You can cheat. I did:

Let it harden & then paint it!

It took 4-5 coats of paint to properly cover. Be sure to let each
coat dry between applications!

Boom! Done!

Look how crafty you are!

Painted Canvas Shoes

I'm a photographer. However, since I'm so new to "the biz" I'm also an underpaid photographer. To supplement my income I work at shoe store. It's perfect really because I'm obsessed with shoes. I think "obsessed" may be an understatement. What's worse than obsessed? Possessed? Nah.

Anyway, my store sells these white canvas shoes. They're comfortable & all, but man are they boring! See for yourself:

Bor-ing!

So I had a friend help me out. She has the awesome precision cutter. It's so awesome I can't remember the name of it. Yep, it's awesome.
     ...Anyway, her & her awesome precision cutter made me a cut out of some branches with birds on them.

Besides the cut-out, these were my supplies:

 I used fabric markers because it was easier to stay within the cut-out and also aren't as messy as paints.

Awesome precision cutter. Awesome friend. Awesome shoes. Awesome.

Mawmaw's Meatballs

My husband's grandma can cook! She's the stereotypical Southern woman: gets her hair done every Thursday, goes to church every Sunday, spoils her grandkids (and their kids too), and has the accent to boot! My own grandmas passed away a long time ago and I tend to think of her as my third grandma. Everyone who knows her calls her Mawmaw. In fact, I was told to call her that the first time I met her. She's been "Mawmaw" to me for 9 years now.
Back to the fact she can cook--and I mean cook! There's a difference in the South: you can cook. Or, you can cook! The difference is one means you have the ability--you can follow a recipe, your food tastes decent, and people ask you to bring "something" to a potluck. If you can cook! you know recipes by heart, people go back for seconds and thirds, and people ask you to bring a certain dish (for my mom it's her banana pudding, for my aunt it's her potato salad) to the potluck.

These are Mawmaw's meatballs:

Divine!
You'll need:
1/2lb ground beef
1 onion, diced
1tsp diced garlic
1/2 sleeve of saltines
1/2 jar chili sauce
1/2 jar grape jelly
2Tbsp butter
1 egg yolk
3Tbsp oil

Brown the onion and garlic in the butter until nice and brown. Meanwhile, put the saltines in a food processor until they're just crumbs. Put the beef, onions, garlic, and egg yolk in the food processor. Pulse until all mixed together. Form the meat into balls and place in a pan with oil.

Cook the meatballs on each side until brown, but not done. Pour in the chili sauce & jelly.

Cover and cook on med-low for 20 mins, stirring occasionally to make sure the jelly breaks up.

We serve it over rice with the sauce poured over it.

Lemon "Brownies"

Do you know how hard it is to find corn-free foods? Trust me, it's hard. The first time we went grocery shopping after our "discovery" we were there for 3 hours! Obscene. Finding snacks I can eat is even harder. Desserts? Fugitaboutit.

All of that being said, I have a serious love affair with brownies. I could eat them all day, ya know, if they didn't have all that corn syrup in them. I did find a recipe though that caught my attention at Becky Charms. Worth a shot.

You'll need:
3/4c AP flour
3/4c granulated sugar
1/4tsp salt
1/2c softened butter (preferably unsalted, but I didn't have it on hand & they were still delicious)
2 eggs
6Tbsp lemon juice, divided-2 for the brownies & 4 for the glaze
1c powdered sugar (powdered sugar can contain cornstarch if you're not careful)
10tsp lemon zest, divided-2 for the brownies & 8 for the glaze

Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 pan.
Beat the flour, granulated sugar, salt, and butter until combined. (A paddle attachment works better, but I don't have one.)
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with 2Tbsp lemon juice & 2tsp lemon zest.
Pour the flour mixture in with the eggs and beat for about 2 minutes until smooth.

Pour into pan and bake 20-25 minutes, or until the edges turn golden and a toothpick comes clean. Take care not to overcook or they will be dry. Allow to cool completely.
Whisk the remaining powdered sugar, juice, and zest. Once brownies have cooled pour half of the glaze and let set before spreading remaining glaze.

I took a bite :)