Painted Candle Stick Holder - Inexpensive Christmas Gifts #2

For our next project I am going to show you how to make candle holders that you can use on your holiday table or give as a gift. Again, the Dollar Store was my first stop. I picked up two vases and two candles. I’m going to put the candles inside the vases to create a candle holder. I like the idea of using a candle that is enclosed so you don’t have to worry about digging out the melted wax later.
There are all kinds of simple designs that you can choose from on the internet. Just search for “stained glass patterns.” Choose something simple without a lot of straight lines.
This project will be slightly different from our last one (dish painting) because you’re going to paint on the outside of the glass so you have to be extra careful to paint in the lines.
Once you’ve chosen your design, carefully tape it onto the inside of the vase.



You may want to stuff it with newspaper as well. The closer you can get the paper to the glass the easier it will be to trace the design.



I didn’t trace the halo because it’s really hard to do circles on a curved surface. I’ll make a simple peace dove design on the other side to complement Mary and Jesus. Here’s where you can find the designs that I chose. Again, I'm using Apple Barrel Colors but you can use any enamel acrylic and my DecoColor pen for tracing.

Mary and Jesus:
http://www.momsnetwork.com/kids/coloring/holidays/christmas/jesusmary2.gif

Peace Dove:
http://media.photobucket.com/user/tiffanyroeder1991/media/dove.gif.html?filters[term]=Peace%20Dove&filters[primary]=images&filters[secondary]=videos&sort=1&o=6



Remember, if you don’t like it you can always wash it off. You may need to scrape a little as well but it will come off. I find a Brillo or SOS pad does a great job. After you add the color you'll have to go over the original black outline just to touch it up.

Once you’ve finished painting you bake your project. Find my blog called "Inexpensive Gifts #1" for instructions.

Here is my finished project. Painted - baked, washed and ready to give.




John 14:27
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

An In-between Post - Peeling Garlic, Clathrus Columnatus Stinkhorn mushroom, Grassless lawn.

I just discovered a great way to peel a garlic clove via a Martha Stewart video.
Take 2 bowls that are equal or similar size. The bowls I used are slightly different sizes but
one fits into the other so there isn't any mess or stuff flying around. Don't use glass!



Take the garlic, place it in the bowl and cover it with the other bowl. You'll need to shake the whole thing vigorously making sure that you are holding the two bowls together tightly. You will get a work out and it is loud. The dogs did not like the sound at all. What happens is the garlic will get beat out of it's skin. Once you take all the skin out of the bowl you'll have a whole peeled garlic ready to use. I think that's pretty cool.





The other day I found this mushroom growing in some pine bark in the front garden. It's a Clathrus Columnatus Stinkhorn. Usually found in the Gulf Coast. It’s slimy and looks like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. It’s usually found on rotting wood but I found one in my bird bath once. Don’t ask me how!



I turned it over and immediately knew why it's called a Stinkhorn! This sucker will assult your nose like nothing else will. Pué!



And here is a lawn I found on a walk the other day. For all those people who don't like to mow! I'll get right back to inexpensive Christmas gifts now. Thanks for indulging me!

Glass plate painting - Inexpensive Christmas Gifts #1

The growing season is about over for the summer and I’ve planted my winter garden already (just a little early because it’s been so cool) Normally- planting a winter garden should be done after Labor Day. I’ve planted carrots, radishes, onion, lettuce, broccoli and beets. I will show you a really cool way to plant potatoes in February.



So, I’ve decided to dedicate the next few months to gifts that you can make at home to give for Christmas. I know that there are many people struggling. I can feel the anxiety out there. People are unemployed or underemployed and hurting. With Christmas coming up I thought I’d try to help out by showing you how to make inexpensive gifts. The only thing is - you’ll have to start now. If you start now, you can make all the gifts you’ll need with plenty of time to appreciate the wonderful gifts that God has given you.

The first set of gifts will be for kids. I’m going to take a stack of glass plates I bought from the dollar store and paint cartoon characters on them. I’m doing this first one of Lightning McQueen from Disney’s Cars.
If you are not the artistic type you can take a coloring page out of a book or off the computer and tape it to the front of the plate.



You don’t want any paint where it will meet food so we’ll be painting on the back of the plate. Remember to be careful with words or numbers because if you don’t reverse them they will appear backward on the front of the plate when you are finished.
I like to use a black Deco Paint pen to start. Just outline the image with your pen and make sure you have plenty of ventilation in the room. Now I’ll start using acrylic enamel plant using small brushes. You can go from one color to the next just by washing the brush off with a little water and drying it with paper towels. I’ve always used Apple Barrel colors. In fact, I’ll be using Apple Barrel colors for this whole series of painted glass projects.




Now just fill in the color. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect. It will look great! Remember, you can always fix little imperfections with an Xacto blade or (if the paint is still wet) a Q-tip. Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect. You aren’t a machine and you are creating with love. It will look great. If you really don’t like it you can wash it off and start over.




Next you’ll take a natural sponge (you can get one at the craft store) and wet it so it’s soft. Now squeeze all the water out of it. You can blot it on a paper towel to get any excess water out of it if you need to. Choose a background color. This will also fill in all those pin prick holes you may see in the glass when you look through it.




Put a little paint on a paper plate. Dab the sponge into the paint and test it out on the plate. When you think you’ve got the hang of it, start sponging your plate.
Look through the plate to make sure you don’t have any big blobs of color anywhere and when you are happy with the results, step away and let it dry.
It’s now time to bake your creation. Put your plate color side up in a cold oven. Set the timer to one hour and turn the oven on to 325 degrees. When the preheat light turns off - start your timer. You’ll want to bake your glass for one hour. Turn the oven off after an hour and DON’T OPEN THE OVEN. You don’t want to open the oven until it’s completely cool. I usually do this an hour before I go to bed so I can leave it overnight.
I hear you can put these plates into the dishwasher after they are baked but I wouldn’t risk your creation to that. Be safe and hand wash them.



Once you’ve washed the finger prints off your plates you are ready. I found some dry erase boards at Target for $1 and a set of dry erase markers (10 for $5) and that will complete the gift. A few markers at 50 cents each with a dry erase board as a place mat and you have a complete gift. $1 plate - $1 placemat and $1.50 markers plus Apple Barrel paints (about $1.49 each) that you can use for the next two projects. Not bad at all.



Stay tuned for our next Christmas project.

"Jesus kept his wounds so that we would experience his mercy. This is our strength and our hope". Pope Francis

Happenings around Setters Run - Basil seed collection, Nasturtium, Orchid Cactus, Roses

I just thought I'd update you on the goings on here at Setters Run. It's gotten really cold here. The low this morning was 61 degrees. You don't get days like this during August in the South.

photo credit: CK Worley

First, I wanted to show this to you. It's called Dollar Weed and it came up in the pot that I planted cilantro in. Go figure! It's considered a weed but is a member of the parsley family. It can be eaten raw in a salad so I went out and tried some. It tastes like parsley at first but gets bitter fast. Thanks to Bobby the Flower Fanatic who named this for me. He said it was either Dollar Weed or Nasturtium and both are eatable so don't worry I won't get toenail poisoning from tasting it. I had been searching under Silver Dollar plant on the Internet and it wasn't the same plant. It's amazing how one word can make a difference. I suppose I'll just leave it until it dies out on it's own. It's a pretty plant.
By the way, if you ever need a plant identified all you need to do is go to Walter Reeves website and click "Name that Plant". They have all kinds of gardening experts who will help you identify your plant if they can.

photo credit: CK Worley

Our climbing Don Juan roses are taking shape. They seem to love where we planted them. Eventually the one on the left and the one on the right will cross paths and intertwine framing the entire window to my office.

photo credit: CK Worley

My Orchid Cactus is about to bloom. There are several blooms on this plant. We inherited it from my husbands father. We've had it several years and never knew it bloomed.

photo credit: CK Worley

photo credit: CK Worley

Now is the time to collect seed off your basil plants. These long stalks carry seed in them. Just pull them off and store them in a cool dry place. You can plant them again next spring. Saving money is key to Growing It First.

P.S. Today is September 13th and I had to show you the Orchid Cactus in bloom. It only blooms at night so we went out at 10 last night to take this photo. Here is a day time followed by a night time photo. So Excited!

photo credit: CK Worley

photo credit: CK Worley

And here is one more close up of the bloom.

photo credit: CK Worley

My 100th Post! - Banana Whip, Freezing juice, MDJ article on my Blog

My friend Kelly made this awesome cilantro rice the other day and the recipe called for the rind of 4 limes. She gave me the limes and said, “I don’t know what to do with these.” So I went to the store and picked up this cool ice cube mold. I squeezed the limes and put the juice into the molds and froze them. Now anytime Kelly needs the juice of a lime she can take one or two of these out of the freezer and WELLA! Remember, if the rind of any citrus is in tact you can just throw the whole thing into the freezer and pull it out when you need it. Once it’s thawed the juice will just pour out of them.



So, I just found out that dairy doesn’t like me very much so I can’t have ice-cream anymore. Kelly (from my lime story) told me to put some sliced banana onto a cookie sheet and freeze it. Then put those frozen slices into a food processor. She told me that it tastes just like ice-cream and is nice and creamy. So, you know me - I had to find out for myself. Kelly was right! This stuff is cool and velvety and is a very good alternative to ice-cream. Thanks my friend!



Here I am in my office talking with Jeff the photographer from the local paper. He is a very nice guy and it was a pleasure to meet him. We are discussing which projects to shoot. They are doing an article on my blog!




Here is the link to the article in the paper.
http://www.mdjonline.com/view/full_story/23421697/article-Marietta-woman-s-blog-shows-it-s--not-too-hard--to-grow-own-food-at-home?instance=home_lifestyle

Fun bits and pieces - Keeping kids busy during cocktail hour, Large eggs or x-large eggs in recipes, bunny and porch garden

Here is a fun thing to do if you have a pea gravel patio and a dinner party where you have kids as well as adults in attendance. I throw beads, shells, marbles and little plastic toys into the patio. It doesn’t matter if they stay out in the weather or if they get mixed up in the patio pebbles. The more mixed in the better. While the adults are having cocktails and conversation the kids are busy treasure hunting. At the end of the evening I let them choose one "found treasure" to bring home with them. They love it and it works like a charm!



Ever wonder what the difference is between a large egg and an extra large egg. Here it is. I heard Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) say that she only uses extra large eggs in her recipes. It would be good to find out if a recipe used regular, large or extra large eggs when it was invented. I heard Mario Batali say on “The Chew” that he uses large eggs in his recipes. Something to wonder about indeed.



I visited Mom the other day and we met Jane who lives on the same floor. She is an organic gardener and once had a large garden when she lived in a house. Now that she lives in an apartment she still gardens only it's a patio garden. Jane uses organic soil and even waters with bottled water. She grows mostly flowers and herbs. Once a gardener always a gardener.



One last thing. I saw this cute little fellow while I was walking home from the gym. He lives in a grassy area between the gym, a parking garage and an assisted living facility. Little wonders never cease to amaze me.