Mini Christmas French Manicure

This is a pretty, easy way to do you or your daughter's nails

Supplies:

-red nail polish

-green nail polish

-clear nail polish (opt.)

Instructions:

Start out with one coat of red nail polish (If you are not using clear than put two coats).

Then after about two minutes add green to the tips, and after it sets for about two minutes add the clear if you are using it.

 Enjoy!!!

Rudolf Nails

 

Supplies:

-red nail polish

-brown nail polish

-light brown nail polish

-black nail polish

Instructions:

Start with 2 coats of the red nail polish

Next add a larger size dot on the tip of each of your nails.

Then add a red dot on the tip of each nail, and two black dots a little above that.

Then with a tooth pick add the antlers.

Homemade Yogurt

Homemade Yogurt:
It's SUPER easy, SUPER inexpensive, and SUPER healthy

Ingredients:

-4 cups whole milk for 1 quart of yogurt

-1 Tablespoon of Yogurt with live and active cultures

-Meat Thermometer
-Crock pot and 2 large towels or glass bowl with lid and oven with light


Instructions:

If using crock pot method, plug in crock pot and turn on high.
Pour 4 cups of whole milk into microwavable dish.

 

Desired heated temperature is 180 degrees.  Heat milk in microwave for 3 minutes, remove and stir; heat for 3 minutes, remove and stir; heat for 2 minutes, remove and stir and then check temperature.  Sometimes I have to go one more minute. (Microwave times will vary.  If you exceed 180 that's fine but try not to exceed 180 by too much.)  From what I've read, the heating process breaks down the proteins in the milk allowing the bacteria to cultivate the milk.

Now you want to cool the milk down to 120 degrees which is a good temperature for the cultures to grow.  You can either just wait until it cools down with air temperature, or you can place it in a large bowl with ice water. Stir occasionally checking the temperature after stirring.  (I had just made granola and so used that dirty bowl since it was going to need cleaned with water anyway.)  It took approximately 10 minutes for the milk to cool using the ice water.  Remove 1 Tablespoon of yogurt from refrigerator to warm up while milk is cooling down.  Also, turn off and unplug crock pot.

Once milk has cooled to 120 (or close) pour into crock pot (if using that method) and gently stir in yogurt.




 Here I did it in a smaller crock pot.

Wrap 2 large towels around crock pot (this acts as an insulator and holds the desired temperature)


Set in undisturbed place for: 6 hours for bland, sour cream type yogurt with more lactose, up to
12 hours for tangier flavor with less lactose (the longer you let it set, the more liquid will be at the top, you can either scoop that out or stir it in).
I prefer to let my yogurt set for 10 hours.

The non crock pot method:
Once yogurt has been stirred in, place lid on bowl, turn on oven light and let set in oven, near light, with door closed for the time indicated above. (I don't actually have milk in the picture below; it's just to give you an idea of what I did.)


Once yogurt has set up, place in sealed container in refrigerator.  It will thicken more once cooled.

Helpful Hints:
-This yogurt is very bland by itself.  You can add sweeteners/flavors of your choice.  We love to eat it as is mixed with homemade granola.
-To make your next batch of yogurt, just use 1 Tablespoon from this batch.
-If the yogurt doesn't set up, don't throw it out!  All you have to do is get the milk warmed up to near 120 and hold it at that temperature for about 8-10 hours.  I forgot to heat up my crock pot once and the yogurt was still very runny after 10 hours.  I put it in a glass dish and used the oven light method.  After 10 hours it was set up perfectly; however, the milk had soured.  This worked great in the buttermilk pancake recipe!  So, if it's too bland from not setting long enough, use in place of sour cream.  If it's sour from having to have it set too long, use in place of buttermilk in recipes!


 

Tennis Ball Holder

 

Supplies:

-tennis ball 

-utility knife

-craft eyes

-suction cup

-hot glue gun

Instructions:

Cut a slit across the front of the tennis ball to form the mouth.

Hot glue the eyes on above the mouth.
With a nail poke a hole in the back of the tennis ball.
Stick the suction cup hook in the nail hole and glue.
Share your ideas in the comments below.

Enjoy!!!

Buttermilk Pancakes

 Ingredients:
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 T. sugar
2 lg. eggs, lightly beaten
2 C buttermilk OR 1 1/2 cup plain yogurt (see homemade yogurt) + 1/2 cup milk OR 2 C. milk + 2 T. vinegar or lemon juice (the thicker the liquid, the fluffier the pancakes)
1/4 c. vegetable oil
Chocolate chips (opt.)

Instructions
    
Combine first five ingredients. Stir well. Combine eggs, milk, and oil in a bowl. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened (mixture will be lumpy; if its smooth then pancakes will be flat not fluffy.)

 
For each pancake, pour about 1/4 to 1/2 cup batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or frying pan (you can use a ladle for this). You can add the chocolate chips into the batter in the mixing bowl or after you've poured the batter onto the griddle. If you do it in the mixing bowl the chocolate chips tend to settle at the bottom.

 
Cook pancakes until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look almost golden.


Flip and cook on other side (the larger the spatula the easier it is to flip the pancakes).


to keep cooked pancakes warm while others 

are cooking, wrap in a kitchen towel (those smooth towels that are hard to dry with) on a plate. You can store unused batter in airtight container in refrigerator for up to a week; mix up a little bit before cooking though.

How to Start a Fire in a Wood Burning Fire Place

We've lived in 2 different houses over the past 12 years and one of our favorite things in both of them has been the wood burning fireplaces.  We've enjoyed watching movies, playing games, visiting with family and friends, cooking s'mores and even our yearly tradition of sleeping as a family on Christmas Eve in front of these fires.

If you have a fireplace and aren't quite sure how to use it, we hope this can be of some help to you and that you can enjoy yours as much as we enjoy ours!

Before we begin, we want to say that we incur no responsibility for any damage or injury that would be caused from following these instructions.

Supplies: 

-dry sticks and twigs

-paper, cardboard, newspapers, paper egg cartons, etc.

-dry logs

-fire poker

-lighter or matches (we used a lighter)

Instructions:

First:  Locate the damper.  This is an opening at the bottom of the chimney, above where the wood burns.  There should be some type of way of opening and closing this (in this picture is the handle to our damper- it only opens all the way or closes, there's no in between).  Before starting the fire, you want to open the damper completely. Once the fire is burning well, you can adjust the damper (if yours has an adjuster).  The more open it is, the more updraft it has causing the fire to burn faster.  The more closed the damper, the slower the air flow and the slower the fire burns.  You can adjust and see which works best for you fireplace and your needs.

Open the vent to let the air circulate.  This is especially useful when the doors are closed.  Like the damper, the more open the vent, the stronger the draft and the hotter/faster it burns.  The more closed the vent, the slower the air flow and the slower it burns.

Compact and twist paper and/or cardboard and place it under the log rack.  The more compact the paper, the slower it burns.  Place some loose papers around the compacted ones.

(Don't add the big logs yet, the one in the picture is one from a previous fire.)

Lay the sticks and twigs loosely on top.  Don't put on too many, you want the air and flames to be able to move freely up through the sticks.

Carefully light the paper.

 

Once the small sticks catch well, add bigger sticks.

Once the larger sticks are burning well, add 1-2 logs.

Once the fire is going well, you can adjust the damper and vent to slow down or speed up the air flow.  

Remember, the more open, the faster the air flow, the faster/hotter the burn.

The more closed, the slower the air flow, the slower the fire burns.

Helpful hints:  

-The dryer the wood, the faster, better and hotter it burns.  It's best to use wood that's been dead at least one year.

-Be careful that there is nothing that can catch fire near the fire place when starting your fire.

-If the wood is wet, it will pop more than normal.  If you don't won't the fire to pop out sparks, it's best to place a screen in front of the fire or close the doors; especially when you leave the room or if there are young children around!

-When you're done with the fire and there's still burning wood, you can place ashes on top of any remaining logs and separate them.  Then close the vents, the doors and the damper most of the way.  If the fire's completely out, you can close the damper and vent all the way.  This will prevent you from losing warm air up and out of your chimney.

- Air that goes out of your chimney must be replaced with more air.  If your house is very air tight, you may have problems with smoke in the house.  If that's the case, open a window slightly somewhere in the house.

-It is recommended that you clean your chimney once a year to prevent creosote build-up.

-You may want to place a rug in front of your fireplace to protect the floor from occasional stray sparks.

-Round logs burn slower and are harder to catch fire than split ones.

Enjoy!!!

Tooth Paste

Ingredients:

-bowl

-2 T baking soda

-3 T coconut oil

- flavor (whatever and however much you want)

Add baking soda and coconut oil in bowl.

Mix together with spoon
(I had to smash it together with the back of the spoon)

Add flavor and mix. The finished product
should look like this.

Only a little is needed when brushing.

After I made mine, I tried it out and honestly it didn't taste that good, but boy did my teeth feel clean!

Light Switch Covers

This is a good tutorial for light switch covers that I found on youtube

Old Chair Redo

Before

   Supplies:

-old chair (we got this one at a second hand store for $5)

-wall paint or spray paint

-damp rag

-drop cloth

-paint brush

                                                             

Instructions:

With spray paint:

Take the seat off the chair, 

and take the chair outside.

shake the can up well and

spray the chair all over 

(It will probably take more than one coat) 

You can spray paint the seat if it is not cloth,

or you take the cloth off and put other cloth on.

With wall paint:

Lay the drop cloth down on your work area and put the chair on it.

Then take the seat off of the chair.

Shake the paint can well and then open it, 

with a paint stick stir the paint. 

wipe the excess paint off the paint stick with the paint brush.

Dip the tip of the brush in the paint and paint away. 

Once you are done painting, 

let the paint dry thoroughly before doing a second coat.

After that you can put the seat on just like in the spray paint instructions.

After

Southern Sweet Tea

For 1 Gallon of Sweet Tea, you will need:

1) Luzianne Decaf Tea (get the square box with 48 bags; the longer, skinnier box has larger sized tea bags which is not in accordance with this recipe) - 5 tea bags

2) 1 cup of sugar

3) Water

4) 1 Gallon pitcher

(After testing with Lipton, other off brands, and even Luzianne with caffeine, I couldn't find a tea that tasted as good as Luzianne decaf, but this recipe will work for any brand with the same size tea bags)

Fill sauce pan mostly full of water and add  5 tea bags.

I usually tie them together  and then pull off the tags in order to make it easier to remove from pan when done brewing.
Turn burner on high.

Bring water to a boil.  Once tea starts to boil, turn burner off and let tea set for at least 15 minutes.  I usually grab the set of strings and bounce the bags in and out of the water/tea to make sure they all get immersed.

Pour sugar into empty 1 gallon pitcher. You can adjust the amount of sugar to your liking.



Remove tea bags from pan and gently squeeze against side of pitcher.  Be careful not to squeeze too hard so you won't bust the bags.

Quickly pour tea into pitcher.

Add water until pitcher is full and stir.

The tea will be hot once mixed.  It tastes VERY good freshly brewed, but if you prefer cold tea, you can either add ice while adding the water or just place it in the fridge for several hours.



We hope you enjoy this as much as our family and friends do!

Earring Holder

Need somewhere to hold your earrings without it taking up dresser space?

Try this easy earring holder.

supplies:

-small piece of window screen (available at most hardware stores) 

-wooden picture frame with removable back (can be found at dollar stores)

-stapler

-pen or sharpie

-scissors

-ribbon
-paint (opt)

Instructions:
First, take the back and the glass out of the picture frame.
 If you don't like the color of the frame you can
paint it with wall paint, acrylic paint, spray paint... 

Once dry, trace around the outside of the picture frame onto the screen,

Then cut the screen out slightly smaller than the line.

Stretch the screen as tight as you can
 (you may want to get some help with this in order to get it really tight)
 and staple it to the back of the picture frame.
Cut the ribbon to your desired length (the longer the ribbon, the easier it is to flip it in order to put the backs of your earrings). 

Staple the ribbon to the top corners to hang.

Put your earrings in and enjoy.