Holiday Garland Card Holder

I found a holiday card tree holder that I absolutely loved but I was not paying the crazy price that the store wanted.  I thought I would make my own tree but ended up deciding to pin them to the garland I already had up on the railing in the foyer. 

I started with a random assortment of old Christmas cards that I have been saving.  Every Christmas it kills me to throw them away because some of them are so pretty. I try to save them and use them for my Christmas scrapbooking pages.  If you don't have any old Christmas card, you could use scraps of wrapping paper or scrapbook paper. 

I cut the first piece to fit the clothes pin and then used it as a pattern to cut out the rest. 

  

One of the old cards had letters that spelled Merry Christmas so I cut those out and glued them to the top of the clothes pins. 

 I glued on little mini Christmas light bulbs that I had left over from last year onto the top of the pins that didn't have letters on them. 

I clipped the cards on in a line following the top of the handrail.

 Then I used the branches that hung below the first row of cards to clip on another row. 

 Then each day when we anxiously check the mail, we will add new cards on. 

I love that I can display the cards without taking up valuable table and shelf space so that I can save that space for other Christmas decor!  One dollar for the clothes pins (and recycling old cards) beats $50 for a store bought card holder tree any day! 

Yummy Mexican Restaurant Rice

At last I can get back to blogging!  I have done so many projects and cooked so many recipes but haven't had time to sit down and write everything up!  This semester I had 5 classes as well as student teaching 3 days a week so all of my computer time was used for writing lesson plans and papers!  I'm looking forward to getting back into blogging and finally getting into PINTEREST! 

 I thought I'd start back up with this yummy mexican restaurant style rice.  My boyfriend and I love to go out to Mexican and the rice has to be my favrotie thing (as well as a Margarita). Everytime we make taco salad or enchaladas at home, we would buy that spanish rice in a box or microwavable pouch and in my opinion that rice terrible!  I was determined to figure out how the mexican restaurants do it.  I found a recipe tweeked it a little and it is worth it! 

The only bad thing about this rice is that it is takes 25- 30 minutes so I often get impatient and have to resist the urge to stir it.  I usually make a double or triple batch and freeze it so that when we are in a hurry I can just reheat it.  It freezes pretty well and tastes pretty good the second time around. 

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 cup uncooked long-grain rice

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 cup chopped onion (I usually add a little extra)

1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 cups chicken broth

 Saute the chopped onions in vegetable oil over medium heat for a few minutes to soften them. 

 Add in the rice and stir.

 

Then add in the garlic salt and cumin.

Constantly stir over medium heat until the rice puffs and is golden brown.   

  I usually do mine over low to medium because this burns very easy.  Don't stop stiring!

Stir in the chicken broth and tomato sauce. 

 Bring it to a boil. 

 Reduce heat and cover.  Simmer for 20-25 minutes. Don't stir it, just let it simmer and absorb the liquid. Don't get impatient or the rice will be hard. 

 When it is done, remove from heat and lightly fluff with a fork. 

Serve and enjoy!  I served mine with enchaladias and beans. 

I also froze half of our enchaladias and half the rice for another meal.  Make sure to remove all the air from your bags to prevent freezer burn. 



Mailbox Witch

Materials:

Large styrofoam ball

Green and black paint

Witch hat (Dollar Tree)

Old black pants

Broom (Dollar Tree)

Black Cat (Target--Dollar Spot)

Fabric for a cape

Dress up shoes (Dollar Tree)

Packing Foam/Bubble Wrap/Plastic Grocery Bags

Glue gun

The head is made of a styrofoam ball that I painted with green acrylic paint.  For the face I painted on the smile with black paint and used paint caps (from the little bottles of acrylic paint) for eyes.  I used a set of pom-poms for hair and a added a hat.  I put a hole in the styrofoam and lined the hole with packing foam  so the styrofoam did not scratch the mailbox ball and stuck it nice and snug on the metal ball.   

To make the pants, you first need to find an old pair of black pants.  I used a pair of old black dress paints and I glued strips of purple fabric to make stripes.  Then stuff the pants with plastic stuffing such as grocery bags or sheets of balled up packing foam.  I wouldn't recommend newspaper because the witch will get wet in the rain.   

 Then  to add the shoes, I rolled a piece of thin packing foam to fill the shoe.  Then cut a piece of tan colored grocery bag and glued it on the rolled foam.  It looks a little strange in the picture but it actually does make it look like wrinkly witch skin! 

I even added a little hot glue to the bottom of her shoes and the grass to keep her feet in place. Shh ...don't tell my boyfriend I put hot glue on the new sod! :)

 The last finishing touches are a black cat and a broom! 

 You are sure to spook your neighbors (and mail lady/man) with a mailbox witch! 

Linking up to these great blogs:

http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/



Almond Wild Rice

I found this yummy recipe for Almond Wild Rice on All Recipes.  I made a few slight changes to the original recipe but overall it was a very good side dish!

Ingredients:

5 1/2 cups chicken broth, divided

1 cup golden raisins (I used regular raisins, cranberries might also work well)

6 tablespoons butter or margarine, divided (see my suggestions below for decreasing the butter)

1 cup uncooked wild rice
1 cup uncooked brown rice

1 cup slivered almonds

1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

First bring 1/2 cup of broth to a boil. Once boiling remove from the heat and add raisins and set aside.  Do not drain extra raisin sauce.

Then in a large saucepan, bring 3 cups of broth and 2 tablespoons of butter to a boil. (You could really reduce the butter here if desired.)  Add wild rice; cover and simmer for 55-60 minutes or until the rice is tender.

In another saucepan add the brown rice, 2 tablespoons butter (again butter could be decreased) and 2 cups of broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 35-40 minutes or until rice is tender.

In a skillet, saute the almonds in remaining butter until lightly browned.  Next time, I think I would toast them in the oven so they wouldn't be so greasy or at least decrease the butter. 

 In a serving bowl, combine the wild rice, brown rice, raisin mixture, almonds, parsley, salt and pepper.

Yum! A couple things I don't like about this recipe...it uses 3 saucepans at once which creates a lot of dishes to clean.  It also takes almost an hour for the wild rice to cook so this isn't a quick dinner.  It makes a great side dish for many meals! 

 

Baby's First Year Pre-Made Scrapbook Gift

 

I've made scrapbooks for several gifts and they are always a huge hit!  I've made them both with the pictures already in the scrapbook and I've also given empty pre-made scrapbooks so the receivers can add their own pictures. 

I made a scrapbook for my friend Staci for her birthday because she was going on a cruise.  She always complains about never taking pictures on trips.  I made the scrapbook with pages for each port and also included more general theme pages for beach and cruise pages.  The first thing she told me after she got back was how many pictures she took because she had the scrapbook.  She now has a beautifully filled scrapbook of pictures, mementos, and memories that she other wise wouldn't have had because she doesn't scrapbook.  

Giving an empty scrapbook to a non-scrapbooker is great because all they have to do is take the pictures.  They can personalize it by choosing the photos and by journaling on pages with stories and memories. 

Giving a filled scrapbook always gets a wow reaction (and sometimes even tears) when you give it to the reciever.   

Baby scrapbooks are a great gift for a shower or hospital gift.  Even if the Mommy is a scrapbooker, who has time to scrapbook during the first year?  The scrapbook can be laid out like a baby book. 

Here are photos of pages of a pre-made baby girl scrapbook that I made for a gift...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each page contains a spot for one or two 4x6 photos.  When I give a scrapbook, I include a pack of acid free glue sticks so all the receiver has to do is get their photos printed and glue them in!