Cheddar beer fondue

This was so easy to make and took just a few minutes!

1 cup beer
4 cups shredded cheddar (I used half sharp white and half mild cheddar)
1 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves minced

Turn fondue pot on medium low. Add beer and garlic. Wait until bubbles form just around the edges and add pepper, mustard & flour. Stir. Add cheese one cup at a time stirring continuously. Once one cup is melted, add another. Turn pot to warm.
To dip we used:
French bread cubes
Honey pretzel twists
Apple slices
Carrots
Tomatoes
Celery
Broccoli
Snap peas

We made a mini tea light chocolate fondue for dessert with raspberries, pineapple chunks, strawberries & apple slices

$5 yard sale trunk redo

I got this trunk at a yard sale for only $5 because they were trying to get rid of it. It looked like it had been cloth covered and they had just removed it so it was ready to be painted or stained. I used a sherwin williams paint sample I had so it wasn't the highest quality but I really like the way it came out. I think it looks like its always been that color -bungle house gray.

Wood block snowmen

I made these just like the pumpkins. paint blocks of wood (2x4") white.
Add black dots for eyes.
Sand to distress.
Add homespun fabric scarves.
Hotglue rusty metal heart or star.
Voila!

Halloween signs

I love these pumpkins and they were easy to make. I painted scrap wood blocks orange and painted black faces on them. I sanded them down to distress them, added a stick as a stem and tied a scrap of green home spurn around the stem.

Scrappy recycled wood Christmas trees

These came out so adorable. I made them over the last few days.
Day 1 cut lengths of wood to make a tree shape and painted. One tree is white and one is Italian sage.
Day 2 cut out stencils on the cricut onto contact paper. One reads "may your days be merry & bright" and the other, "a very merry Christmas & a happy new year." Paint the words. I used black on the white sign and black cherry on the sage sign.
Day 3 sand all the pieces to distress. I also painted a black block for the base of the tree. Assemble by using drywall screws through the back of the post. Hot glue a rusty metal star to the top. I'm selling them for $40 at some craft fairs and via Facebook.
Adorable! I found several signs on pinterest as my inspiration. Just search "scrappy wood tree."

Re-stickify Cricut Mats!!! Easy and actually works

Super easy!

You need:
Aleene's Tack It Glue
Water
Small bowl
Foam brush

1. Scrape off your cricut mats to remove big pieces of paper and vinyl. Mine still have some small pieces...no big deal.

2. Pour equal parts Aleene's Tack It glue and water into your small bowl and mix together.

3. Dip foam brush in the mixture and "paint" on a thin layer over the entire mat(s.)

4. Let dry - doesn't take too long especially in our 95 degree weather today.

5. The mat will be extremely tacky (odd...) pat the mat with your hands to "condition" with the oils in your hands. It will take some of the stick out of the mat so your paper doesn't tear.

VOILA!! Took me a couple of minutes to do 4 mats and the glue was $5...much better than spending $10 on a new mat that only works several times before it loses it's stick.

Etsy

12 items for sale now on etsy!
Custom Name Sign
Custom Lake Sign
Custom Town/City Sign
herbs
be happy
laundry
bakery
country life
beach -->
sit long talk much
love life <3
open daily

www.etsy.com/shop/nikkirivs

etsy site is back up

More Signs

Distressed Wood Signs

dream BIG
Family
Life is Better on the River
be happy
love LIFE

First I put a thin coat of cheap Jo-Ann's acrylic paint as my base coat on 2" wide pieces of wood.
Then I cut out cheap contact paper for stencils on the cricut using the Opposites Attract Cartridge.
The contact paper sticks to the wood (once it's dry)as a stencil and I just the letters in a different color.
I peeld off the contact paper carefully while the paint was still wet. Don't worry if it's not perfect.
Then I sanded with an 80 grit piece of sandpaper focusing on all of the edges and then over the whole piece.
I feel an addiction coming on...It only took a few hours with breaks in between to do the 5 signs.
I HAVE to keep "Life is better on the River" for myself!!!

Family Wall Hook

Uneven old boards held together by wood brackets on the back
Family in black vinyl cut using the cricut (cartridge: opposites attract)
Clothespins hot glued on
Hang small items or pictures with the clothespins

Skinny Latte

I made an espresso this morning and decided I wanted an iced latte (for way less than dunks...)
I filled a glass with ice, poured the espresso over it, added skim milk and a little bit of chocolate.

Delicious!

Avocado, Egg and Cheese Sandwich

omg. i love avocados. and they are sooo delicious with eggs and cheese on an english muffin.

Zebra Cake

This is the cake I made for Alicia's Birthday!

What you need to make a 2 layer 8" cake (and some cupcakes with the leftovers):
1 box of vanilla/french vanilla/white cake
1 box of chocolate/fudge/brown cake
Frosting Dyed hot pink
Toothpick
Sparkly black piping gel

Make both boxes according to instructions keeping in separate bowls.
Grease 8" pan bottom and sides.
Drop 1/4 cup of vanilla mix in the center.
Immediately drop 1/4 cup of chocolate in the center of the vanilla circle.
Continue until the rings go all the way to the edge of the pan and it's about 2/3 full.
Bake according to instructions.
Repeat for 2nd layer.
Cool.
Stack with layer of frosting between each cake layer.
Frost top and sides with hot pink frosting. (I like the gel kind because the colors are richer)
I polka dotted the top with the black then decided I didn't like it so I swirled it with a toothpick...not sure I like that either but hey.
One person said it looked like spiders and one said flowers.

Chicken and Avocado Quesadilla

I really need to get a new memory card for my camera. The cellphone camera just isn't cutting it..

Happy Cinqo de Mayo!

You will need:
Olive oil
Chicken tenders
1/2 an avocado
Mexican cheese - or any shreded cheese will do
Spices - salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder
Optional - guacamole, sour cream, jalepenos, salsa

Cook a few chicken tenders in a skillet on medium with some olive oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic and any other seasonings you'd like. 3-4 minutes on each side or until cooked. Let them cook a bit and cut into small pieces about the size of a penny.
Cut an avocado into small pieces. I usually cut it in half, take out the pit and slice it while it still has the skin on lengthwise then widthwise then you can pop the pieces out of the skin.

My skillet has the raised lines so you can make paninis...or quesadillas in it!

Brush one flour tortilla with olive oil and place oil side down in the skillet on medium.
Sprinkle the tortilla with chicken, avocado and mexican cheese. Brush another flour tortilla with olive oil and place oil side up. Once the bottom strarts turning a nice golden color, flip with a big spatula until the other side is golden.
Cut with a pizza cutter on a cutting board and serve with guac, sour cream, salsa or jalepenos.

Jellyfish Cake

You will need:
box of funfetti cake mix
coconut snowballs(gas stations usually have them)
frosting - dye most blue but save out a titch for light pink
swedish fish
brown sugar

Bake a box of funfetti cake and follow instructions for a 13x9 pan.
Once cooled cut in half so you have 2 rectangles. Sandwich the two together with frosting.
Dye most of your frosting a pretty water color and frost the whole cake. Dye a few spoonfuls of the frosting pink for your jellyfish...stingers?/tentacles?/legs?/whatever
Use pink coconut snowballs as your jellyfish and gently smush into the frosting.
Put some light pink icing into a plastic bag and cut a small portion of the tip off. Pipe some squiggly...leg things.
Put some brown sugar around the plate as "sand" (this will also cover up any frosting you got on the plate)
Make a swedish fish border all the way around.
So cute!!

Leftovers on Salad...makes me actually eat it

I threw my leftover sauted mushrooms, onions and asparagus on some spring mix with leftover grilled chicken, cheesy rice and honey mustard dressing...it was almost as good as my margarita's chicken taco salad.

I never feel like eating salad or leftovers but combined...OKAY!!!

Target Knockoff Stretchy Headbands

We saw similar headbands to these on CLEARANCE for $6...I REFUSE to pay $6 on a headband.

I got a pack of 3 stretchy black headbands in the Dollar Bin at Target and hotglued a flower I got on clearance at Michaels and a bunch of random feathers to the other one.

CUTE....My hair looks disgusting after an 11 hour work day otherwise I'd take a pic with one in.

Target Feather Earring Ripoff

I saw earrings like this at Target today for $7.99 and I couldn't bring myself to spend that soooo I made my own.

I had some cheap 80's style thick white hoops and some of my dad's fly tying feathers I "borrowed" to put feathers in my hair....and everyone I know who will let me put one in.

So easy peasy I hot glued feathers all the way around the hoop...and layered them so they looked better and voila - free earrings as opposed to $8.

Valentine's Day Cookies

PB cookie mix dyed pink with gel food coloring and white chocolate hershey kisses and raspberry hershey kisses. . .They were a hit at work and easy to make.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Cook ground turkey/beef in the crock pot

Spray the crock pot with pam. Add some garlic to the bottom.
Season the ground turkery generously with salt, pepper, minced onion, garlic powder, italian seasoning and whatever else you'd like. Add to the crock pot.

I threw a red onion end to the top to add flavor.
Cook on low 8 hours or on high 4-5 hours until the meat is no longer pink.
Run a fork through to spearate and use it in whatever meal you're making.

Add a spoonful of leftover melted chocolate to hot cocoa...yumm

Mint & White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Melt a small bowl of each mint chocolate and white chocolate chips in the microwave. Add veggie oil to thin if neccessary.
Lay out a piece of wax paper.
Dip half of the cookies halfway into the white or into the mint chocolate.
Place on wax paper until dry.
YUM!

Quick Cheesy Shell Casserole

Cook half a box of the shells according to the box.
Preheat oven to 350.
Drain and place in casserole dish.
Add about 1/2 a cup of shredded cheese and 1/2 a bottle of 3 cheese pasta sauce and mix together.
Sprinkle some salt, pepper and italian seasoning on top.
Sprinkle bread crumbs on top.
Sprinkle cheese on top.
Bake 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted.

Dot Branch Canvas

Directions from this blog:
http://twogirlsbeingcrafty.blogspot.com/2011/02/painted-wall-art-for-non-artists.html

I used two canvases instead of one and wine corks as the "dobbers" I like the warmer colors I used.

I want to do one with 4 canvases that all tie together and do blue dots for winter, the colors i did for fall, pastels for spring and brights for summer.

Measuring Spoons

I went to the local paint your own pottery place, You're Fired and painted these spoons for my mom for Christmas. For $22 it's a really cool, not completely homemade gift but it has all the terms she uses, Schosche, pinch, titch, dash and smidge.

Peace Sign Wreath

$1.00 to make!

I bought the wreath at Dollartree for $1.00
Hot glue some sticks from the backyard to the back of the wreath to make a peace sign
Tie on a ribbon you have kicking around the house

I made this for someone for Christmas but I think I want one myself!

Tshirt and Lace Infiniti Scarves

Cut an old tshirt just below the pits so it's a rectangle.
Cut one side seam so it opens up.
Cut the lace the same width. I made the lace the same length as the opened up tshirt piece.
Sew the lace on the tshirt piece ends, it won't fray so it can over lap on top of the tshirt an inch or two. Be sure to keep it flat so it makes a circle scarf.

Hunting Bandanas for Man and his Dog

1 yard of hurt your eyes orange cotton solid
Cut into 4 18 x 18" squares

Fold up about a quarter of an inch twice on each side and sew with matching orange thread.
Press.

I made these for my dad and brother and their dogs to take hunting. The fabric was on sale so it only cost $2 for 4 bandanas.

Flannel Fly Fishing PJ Pants

I didn't have a pattern so I took a pair of my pj bottoms and tucked one leg inside of the other so I could get the basic shape.
I laid the fabric out (probably 4 yards) flat on the floor

Put the folded pjs on the folded edge of the fabric with the flat side lining up with the fold

Cut out (or trace first) around leaving at least 5/8" (in this case I was making them for my dad so to be safe I added about 2 1/2 inches) except for the waist and the cuffs, you'll need even more to be able to fold up and hem. Best to have too much that you can later cut off than not enough.
You'll need 2 legs.

Now fold a leg right sides together, sew up with a 5/8" seam allowance from the cuff to the crotch line. Do the same to the other leg.

Put one leg inside the other, right sides together. Pin the "u" crotch area and sew with the same seam allowance.

Flip so they are inside out. Iron and pin your desired cuff length and sew both legs.

Make a casing around the waist for elastic, leaving an opening. Thread the elastic through using a safety pin to make it easier. Sew the elastic at the desired waist size making sure to keep it flat. Sew up the hole.

Turn right sides out and a quick pair of pjs! Probably takes about 20 mins.

Black and Zebra Inifiniti Scarf

2 Knits cut at about 13" wide by however wide the fabric is
I made the zebra section a little shorter than the black
Knits don't fray so just sew right sides together of opposite fabrics
Do the same to the other end but make sure it's not twisted
Voila

Silver votive/tealight holder

2 minute gift idea!
Someone had given me different sized mason jars but they had no covers so I thought making them into candle holders would be a good idea.
I had some metallic silver spray paint around. I tipped the jars upside down on some cardboard outside and I'm sure the neighbors thought I was crazy since it was about 9:00pm and 40 degrees. It was dark so the paint didn't come out even but I think it looks better, adds character. Once they dried I tied some raffia around the top and threw a tealight in.

Washable Glitter Mason Jar Votive/tealight Holder

I used Martha Stewart glitter paint, about 3 coats.
I dabbed it on with a foam brush.
Follow the instructions on the back of the paint to cure it in the oven so it will be dishwasher safe.
I made these for gifts so I added a few tealights and tied some raffia.