Tuesday, November 24, 2009

I gotta good "Deal with it"!



What do you do when you come across a good bargain when you find it? Of course you buy it! That's just what I did when I came across these charms that were marked down to 75% off! But now what? I would need to know a whole lot of people with the names on the charms or " deal with it" in a new way.



I had a charm swap coming up so decided that I could certainly do something with them to jazz them up and be something different. So, I dug out some craft foam and some rubber stamps that would make great texture. I cut out the foam to fit the metal charm. Then I took a hot air gun and heated the foam holding it down with a skewer. The piece should curl slightly but don't get too close or it will scorch the foam. I used a tile to protect the surface of the table. Immediately I used a rubber stamp to get an impression with some texture.



Then the next thing is to rough up the surface on the silver charm plate and glue the foam in place.



Lastly I used Perfect Medium by Ranger and dabbed on the foam impression. I then brushed on bits of Pearl EX powder with various different colors. Walla! A quick and wonderful trade that looks like fimo clay without the roll out and baking steps! You may also want to try them to make faux buttons and other beads and things. Perhaps even some quick Christmas ornaments for the kiddos to do! Be sure to supervise as the heat gun can get very hot.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

A Family Tradition

One thing I always look forward to at Thanksgiving especially is the Lefsa! My grandmother was pure Norwegian and our house would be filled with Scandinavian foods during the holidays. For those that have never heard of Lefsa, it essentially looks like a tortilla, but is made with potatoes, flour, butter and cream. When my grandmother made them years ago, she used lard. It's such a special treat and I have grown very appreciative of my grandmother standing over her lefsa grill making one at a time. It's time consuming and there is flour every where, but so worth the effort. Here's how I made them.

I started out with russet potatoes cut them into managable pieces and boiled them until done, but not falling apart or they will be too wet. Then you can either rice them or mash them and adding butter. I use a stick and a half of butter for a mixing bowl full. I then cool and refridgerate them several hours. Then I add 1/2 cup of cream to 4 cups of mashed potatoes and mix well.





I then mix in about 1 1/2 cups of flour and knead in by hand. Then make into a ball the size that your two hands can hold together and form into a slight patty. Refridgerate to keep cold as it is much easier to roll out.



Then one at a time roll out onto a floured board. You will need to use a little more flour to keep from sticking but too much will make them tough. I then use a white pillow case and covered my pizza stone. The lefsa rolling pin has groves in it. Flour it well and use light pressure in rolling the dough out about as thin as you can without tearing. It does take some practice.


You will then use a lefsa stick to transfer the lefsa to the pan. The stick must also be floured well.





The lefsa is made on a special lefsa grill. It was preheated to 450 degrees. While it cooks, it starts to bubble up slightly.




Then turn over with the lefsa turning stick to brown the other side.




When it is done, transfer it to a cozy made of kitchen towels. It will keep them warm and keep them from drying out.



Before long you will have a stack of them for your Thanksgiving dinner!




You can store them in a zip lock bag. I fold them in fourths. I keep out enough to eat and freeze the rest. I made 22 lefsa pieces from a 10 lb. bag of potatoes.

To eat, butter them and heat in the microwave . You can also butter and add cinnamon sugar as a sweet treat! I even like to roll them up with link sausage in them. With turkey, I like to use it to mop up gravy with.

Note: If you are looking to purchase a lefse grill you can go HERE ! Or if you don't want to mess with making them, you can get them ready made. You will miss getting them for Thanksgiving, but you can still get it in time for Christmas!

This evening, I also made an AWESOME Italian soup! A bit of my grandfather's heritage, but the recipe came from my friend Jan in North Dakota. I changed a bit of it but it has become our favorite!!!! It's awesome! Thanks Jan! It will certainly become a family tradition too!


Jan's Italian Soup

1 hot Italian sausage and 2 sweet (adjust to what you like)
remove the skins and chop and brown with onion and celery (About 1/2 cup of each)
and add a couple of cloves of minced garlic

add 1 qt. container of beef broth (I didn't have any so I used 1 quart of water with 5 chicken OXO cubes)
1 can of Italian diced tomatoes
2 cans of water and a half a box of bow tie pasta
I added 1 Tbs. each of basil and oregano

cook for 10 min. or until pasta is finished. YUMMY!!!!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Happy Birthday and a Winner!!!



So today I turned 55! That means I can now officially eat off of the senior menu! LOL It also means that it's time for the drawing I promised, so drum roll please...........................and the winner is "LOIS" in Canada! Hurray!!! Congratulations Lois! So fellow bloggers, I am glad that a follower has won and hope that she will enjoy the hand made ornament:) I only wish I had the time to make one for everyone! Thanks too for all of the wonderful suggestions for the cat names. As for the chosen names:

Aslan's sister's name is Bea as ( Honey and Bea seemed the perfect pair), As for the males, we did choose Chuckie Cheese and Chutney. ( We nearly used Chester and Morroco though)

It's been a good birthday weekend. A couple of my friends took me out for lunch at a favorite Mexican restaurant yesterday and last night Rog took me out for Pizza. He said he would take me out tonight too, but I knew things were going to be tight with the new job change so I made a lovely shrimp pasta dinner tonight with homemade bread that was so delicious! My daughter wished me Happy Birthday on her facebook, my mom and one of my sister's called me up and I had numerous on line friends wish me a happy birthday, so life is good! I'm going to go have a piece of pear pie tonight to top it all off!

Yummmmmy Bread!!!!




Delicious Shrimp Pasta!!!!




A Fabulous Pear Pie!!!! ( see recipie on my May 8, 2009 posting) OH I must tell you that I had gotten some pears at a good price from Harry and David's since they were ripe and OMG, the pear pie was WAY more delicious than with the canned pears!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

A Sow's Ear To A Silk Purse

In an online Fiber Art Trader's group we were challenged by Leilani to make some transformations in fabric in 5 days.

DAY 1, I had taken a plain white fabric and hand dyed. It wasn't my favorite piece, but it had possiblities was willing to experiment to see what it would become in this blind challenge. It was cut to the size of about 8 X 10.



DAY 2, consisted of laying a rainbow dyed organza fabric over the piece along with batting sandwiched together and stitched.



Then the organza was burnt away randomly showing through some of the original fabric beneath.



DAY 3, resulted in cutting out shapes from one place and replacing it to another area.



It was then stitched into place forming a new stitched pattern. I satin stitched it in a blue that I had used for the background foundation. It was a piece of fabric I had done salt dyes with during the summer.



DAY 4, the fabric was embellished. I chose to stitch by hand with some pearl cotton with some spokes around the shapes. I used some fimo clay that I rolled up in small balls and added the crystals in which I baked together. I also embellished with other beads and crystals along with some CZECHOSLOVAKIAN glass buttons I had picked on on my travels to Seattle. They were quite pricey, but I felt the piece needed it and it was coming together quite nicely.




DAY 5, took on the last transformation stage where the fabric was cut, edged and re-stitched into a vessel. I actually had a couple of ideas on how to construct it, but I liked this the best. I still had to cut a piece from the front to enclose the back fully. Even after satin stitching it, I took thread and hand joined the back. The piece actually tilted so after auditioning a foot for it, I settled on a wooden bead. Sewing it in place wasn't enough, so had to secure it with fabric glue. I am quite please with the results. I think I may add more crystals and beads to it, but I feel it is finally complete! I truly do feel that it became a silk purse:) Thanks Leilani! It was great to see everyone coming up with something so different.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

For The Love of Kitties

HAPPY VETERAN's DAY and HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY VICKIE!!!! I made this video especially for you and your kitties too!

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: For The Love Of Kitties
Create your own slideshow - Powered by Smilebox
Make a Smilebox slideshow

Friday, November 6, 2009

It's in the Cards (Give Away Drawing)

It's hard to believe that it is November already! Christmas is just around the corner, so I have been busy trying to get things done. I was commissioned to do some Christmas cards, so finished them up for a customer. This way they get a card and an ornament at the same time. Be sure to click on them to view them closer.




I also did an ATC. I try to add some stitching on the card for a little extra interest. I also like adding broken jewelry and charms and such on them. It worked out that this one looked like the boy was walking his dog. It went to a guy that has a couple of doxies.



This past week, I got a quilt delivered to a friend that I had quilted. It's called Weaver Fever. I have quilted 3 of them now, but I must say that this one is my favorite as far as colors. I also love this periwinkle thread! So cool on the black background.



It looks complicated, but a very easy block pattern to put together. I made a black, gold and burgundy one for a wedding gift awhile back.



Our outdoor dinner guest population is growing. There is no doubt that these are Aslan's furs-kin! They were always so scared, but seems that Honey has introduced them to the dinner patio! Two are his brothers and 1 is a sister for sure! Now we need to come up with some names for them. It's hard to leave them outside, but we have too many inside as it is. Mostly they need to have homes of their own. Here's Aslan's brother, his sister, Honey and Gray C.





This is Aslan's other Brother



This is Aslan's sister


It is so funny because Honey and Aslan's sister always walk together with their tails entwined. They are about inseperable!




I have decided to do a give away. So the deal is, you come up with one or more cat names (2 male and 1 female) for Aslan's sibblings and I will enter your name in a random drawing for for a Christmas ornament, like the ones at the beginning post. I will draw the winner on my birthday, November 21st! Who knows, it might be in the cards for you! Good Luck!