Boozy Bears

Gummy bears soaked overnight in vodka = 'boozy bears'. Done. World's shortest post.

LOL - seriously, that's all there is to it! Put gummy bears (or whatever gummy shape you like) in a bowl, cover with vodka, put in the fridge for at least a day stirring now and then (I didn't stir mine and they stuck together, if that happens just break them apart). The gummies will soak up all the alcohol and you'll have wicked little drunken bears...'cuz what's not to like about children's candy soaked in alcohol?

People, don't make me give the warning - obviously you don't want kids to eat these!

one year ago: bead bracelets with charms
two years ago: citrus pesto

Square Knots for Macrame

Yesterday I showed you the dog collar I made for Sarge using hemp, beads and a charm - I forgot to share this tip when making the square knots. I figured this out after a few years of making these macrame bracelets, keychains, and collars - can't tell you how many times I forgot and then had to undo a bunch of knots! I've never seen this helpful tip so wanted to share...when you are making square knots you alternate starting from the left- and right-side long lengths and if you forget which side you did last and repeat the same side, the collar will start to twist - if you want a spiral design that's how you get it, by not alternating and just starting with the same side every time. To figure out which side you need to do next, look at the previous knot; whichever side of the knot has a line of hemp is the side you start with for the next knot. In this picture my index finger is pointing at the 'line' I'm talking about, it's on the left so I know to make the next knot starting with the left side. I'm not sure I'm explaining this well, the picture should help tho!

one year ago: breakfast salad

Hemp Dog Collar

I bought this dog tag while in Tennessee last week because it made me laugh (and it's also very fitting!), when I added it to Sarge's collar tho he jingled like a cat and was driving me (and him) batty...so while camping I made him a hemp macrame collar to hang it from. And because one thing leads to another, I brought some letter beads with me to also add his name to the new collar (actually it's a necklace not a collar - just like the last one I made, click here for that post, there is no way this can function as his collar...it's just decorative).

This isn't hard to do at all and it comes together quickly. I didn't do any special knots or design, just square knots and you can google for instructions on how to make them. For a 14" collar I cut one piece of hemp (bought a ball of it at Walmart for like 5 bucks) approximately 36" long, and another one approx. 7 yards (I say approximately because I don't have a ruler in the RV so measured lengths by holding the end at my nose and stretching my arm out to the side as far as it'll go - I figure that's about 3 feet). Find the middle of each of the lengths and holding them together make a loop and knot it about an inch down. That's one end of the collar. I clip the loop to the top of a piece of cardboard (or a thin cutting board is what I used this time), and clip the 2 short ends to the bottom of the board - clipping the ends down makes it way easier to tie the knots. Then make square knots for 12 inches and finish by tying a big knot in the other end that will slip thru the loop at the beginning (the loop and knot are the closure). If you want to add beads or a charm, slide them onto the two short ends and make the knots around the beads with the long ends - I added them so they'd be at about the halfway point of the collar.

one year ago: zucchini muffins
two years ago: mason jar lunchables

Cucumber and Smoked Salmon Appetizer

Mary texted me this a month ago (along with the watermelon 'sushi', click here for that post) and I completely forgot to blog it! Aren't they pretty? I'm not a smoked salmon fan but with the cream cheese and caper I could be persuaded to try them! Thanks for sharing BFFE!

Cucumber / cream cheese / chopped onion / smoked salmon / a blob of Cream Cheese / dill / caper

one year ago: Candy's corn shortcut
two years ago: "hello" doormat

Freezing Cookie Dough

I made mini bite-sized blueberry and cherry pies along with chocolate chip cookies for a birthday dinner last weekend - I ended up making 48 little pies and the cookie dough also makes 48...I had the thought that maybe we didn't need 96 desserts for the 10 people coming to dinner hahahah and decided to only bake 1/2 of the cookies (although it turns out that they wanted the cookies made into cookie ice cream sandwiches so we almost didn't have enough!). Anyway - the point of this is that I scooped the rest of the dough into balls, put them on paper plates (making sure the balls aren't touching), set them in the freezer until hard, then put them in a labeled baggie ready for next time.

one year ago: make a pompom throw
two years ago: roasted tomato, zucchini, and white beans

Crimp Beads

P broke this bracelet at my house and was bummed because (1) I had just given it to her out of my sort of large stash of bracelets and (2) she had just deemed it her new favorite and (3) when beads went flying and rolling everywhere she thought that was the end of the new favorite bracelet. But have no fear niece, aunt Jill will fix it :)

This was an easy, albeit boring, fix so I'm not bothering to show you how I did it - basically just another stretchy cord bracelet and I've shown you a few of those lately...click here for a recent one...this is a little different tho because I added a crimp bead on each end since the stretchy cord is attached to leather cord (unlike my normal one-strand of beads tied together) and I wanted to make it even more secure. If you don't know how to use crimp beads I'll share a quick tutorial (really quick, quicker than this intro - it's very simple!).

A crimp bead is just that - a bead that gets smashed (crimped) closed and helps keeps two ends of string/cord/wire together. I still tied the stretchy cord to the jump ring (which is then attached to the leather cord) but then slid a crimp bead on the stretchy cord and ran the loose end back thru the bead. Then using small pliers, crush the crimp bead until it's flat and the stretchy cord can't be pulled out of it.

thread the crimp bead over both ends of the beading cord, slide it tight to the knot at the jump ring 

crush the bead closed

the flattened crimp bead helps secure the beading cord to the jump ring

one year ago: corn salad. 

Creamy Cucumber Salad

I have been obsessed with this salad lately! It's great with just cucumber (typically it has thinly sliced onions in it but D doesn't like that so I just do cukes) or a mix of halved cherry tomatoes and slices or chunks of cucumber - and it's the inspiration for the cuke and chickpea salad I made last week (click here for that post).  I've never been a big cucumber lover but this salad is sort of like creamy pickles so I'm a huge fan.

• 2 cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced (sometimes I leave them in chunks, your call)
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise (or to taste, I don't usually use this much. and sometimes I use half plain greek yogurt and half mayo)
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix cucumbers and salt together in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.

Turn cucumbers into a colander set in the sink and let drain, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has drained, about 30 minutes more. Transfer drained cucumbers to a large bowl.

Stir mayo, vinegar, sugar, dill, garlic powder, and pepper together in a bowl until smooth; pour over the cucumbers and stir to coat with the dressing.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours. 

grilled chicken, cucumber salad, and my go-to side of black beans, corn, tomatoes,
and avocado with a little olive oil and southwestern seasoning mix. Yum. 

Wrapped Turquoise Bracelet

Ever start out making someone a present but when it's done realize it isn't their style at all...but it is your style? LOL! So I now have another bracelet that I love and back to the craft room I go to make something else for a gift ;)

I've never made a double stretchy cord beaded bracelet - this one is out of 6mm turquoise colored beads with a large cross bead, gold hanging charm, and three small clear beads. Using the same technique with stretchy cord (click here for the last post on how to tie a knot that will hold) I just made the bracelet 14" long adding the cross at about 3.5" and the charm at 7" so when folded they are on opposite sides of the bracelet after it's doubled up. I added clear beads on either side of the charm, and one to slide over the knot but you don't really notice them and aren't necessary. So easy - with stretchy cord you don't even need a needle to string the beads, slide them all on by hand and tie a knot (a dab of glue on the knot will help hold it).

one year ago: Brooke makes sushi!

Towel Holder

I have no idea what to call this so I'm going with 'towel holder', could be 'towel ring' or 'display towel' or 'one more thing that sat still long enough that someone decided to decorate it'. Janis sent me photos from a hotel they stayed at that had the towels wrapped with a piece of fabric (thick ribbon would also work) that held the towel in a roll and looked pretty, she knew I'd love the idea...and I do! I wouldn't do this to my regular towels that are in a cabinet because it seems like too much work haha -  but if you have towels out in the open, or decorative towels, or aren't as lazy as I am and want to wrap and unwrap towels everyday, then I think this idea is great. I will definitely do it to our guest room towels since they don't get used every day.

It appears it's just a strip of hemmed fabric with velcro sewn on each end that they've wrapped around a rolled up towel. Easy! Thanks for sharing Janis!

one year ago: Deanna's pretty glass garden angel

two years ago: popcorn toffee crack bars

Birthday Calendar

I'm still stuck in the good ol' paper days when it comes to grocery lists, to-do lists, and this birthday calendar that I've relied on for years now. Yes I know all of this can be done on my phone but my brain doesn't work so good that way - I need to either have the paper in hand or the birthday calendar on my desk.

It's not hard to make - I typed out each month and some lines underneath, 6 months per page, each month is sized 2.25 x 3.25 and fits in this little standing clear acrylic frame...so it's small and takes up minimal space on my desk, but since it's in my face every day I don't usually miss a birthday (unless I don't change to the next month fast enough, if a birthday is the 1st couple days of the month sometimes I don't see it in time!).

I made a little holder for the months that aren't in the frame (I keep 6 months at a time in the frame), very not fancy and now that I've been helping Ronda and learned a bunch of ways to make paper/gift holders I think I'll make a patterned paper one soon! In the meantime this is what I've used forever and it just goes in my desk drawer until I need them.

one year ago: chocolate marshmallow cookies