Scavenger Hunt Sunday

These are not top quality photos, but I'm making myself do them each week!  I will get better.  As always a big thank you to Ashley Sisk for hosting this lovely photo party!  I really like her 'eyes' pic this week-beaufitul and creepy all at the same time!

MINIATURE

This is my brand new hibiscus plant.  These little buds are so small compared to the other growth.  My other option for miniature was my toes, but I thought people might loose their breakfast.

WATER DROPLET

I took these last week when I found out what this weeks chalenge would be.  Pretty easy  one to get, since Vancouver is all about the rain!

BEDHEAD

Yup, that's my hair. 'Nuff said

COLOURFUL

What a fluke.  I just happened to hang this bunnyhug (hoodie) up on my closet door.  It's one of the LOUDEST pieces of clothing I own-and I love it!

EYES

Yup my eyeball.  This reminds me of that Salvadore Dali film where he slices that eyeball with a razorblade closeup and then the eyeball tranforms into a full moon!  Crazy!

Make sure to check back tomorrow (or Tuesday) for my BIG reveal!  You won't want to miss it. 

Don't forget, if you're a follower you can enter to NAME MY BLOG!  For full details, click here

Autumn Centrepiece

OK, I will have a BIG reveal early next week, but since I'm busy with that VERY large project, I felt I did need to crank out one small fall themed craft for this week.


I got my inspiration from Alicia at Thrify & Chic.  But like most of us I made a few alterations!   While I loved the wheat, I wasn't sure where I was going to be able to get that in in short notice.  So on one of my already scheduled shopping trips I picked up Spanish moss ($2), a faux grass and fox tail swag ($5), a maple leaf bunch for some colour ($1) and floral foam (FYI I never used my floral foam because it's MIA-still haven't found it)  I had a small jam jar (free!) that I was going to use as my base. 

Here's what I started with

Since my floral foam was MIA, I decided I would fill my jar with Spanish moss.  It would work just as well as the foam.  But first I had to transform my ugly jam jar.  I used a thick ribbon leftover from a giant box of chocolates (Valentines Day) that was brown with pinky polka dots! PERFECT!  I hot glued the ribbon on, wrapping it tight so it wouldn't slip.  I had a bit of jar showing at the neck, but I had a plan for that!

Great!  So I stuffed my jar with Spanish moss and got to faux floral arranging.  I actually took apart the grass swag into small parts so I could arrange it how I wanted.  I also cut the stems off my maple leaf bunch so I could place them where I wanted.  Once I had the 3 fox tails in the right places I started filling up the rest of the jar with more grass.  I glued the maple leaf stems into the arrangement, or else they'd be camped out around the perimeter like an invading army-lame!  It was starting to come together!

But something was missing.  I still felt like it was just bad fake flowers sticking out of a jar...well not entirely, but sort of....so I got an idea.  I wrapped raffia around the lip of the jar several times and tied a big bow.  I did this 2-3 times to cover up any jar the was still showing.  I also liked how the raffia gave it a more natural/rural feel

Finished Project

Cost =$10-including floral foam

Time= 45 minutes MAX!

I will post more pictures soon, when I figure out where it is going to live this season.  You'll have to wait and see!

Linkin' Up To

  

Crock Pot Cookin

This is embarrassing to admit, but I only use my crock pot on days I'm home all day-like the weekends!  I'm never organized enough in the morning to get something ready and cooking before I head to work.  Oh well, it doesn't matter when I use it, it's that I use it-right? 

Today I'm making Hungarian Lamb Goulash!

What You'll Need

1 lb frozen green beans

1 cup chopped onion

1 1/4 lbs lean lamb for stew, cut into 1"cubes

1 can of chunky tomato sauce

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

1 can tomato paste

4 teaspoons paprika

Dash of garlic salt (personal addition)

Fresh ground pepper (personal additions)

Hot cooked egg noodles

The great thing about cooking in a crock pot is it's easy-and I like easy!

I started with a piece of lamb from Costco.  It's a lamb leg without the bone.  I cleaned it up a bit and cut it into cubes!  (no photos, it was pretty bloody and gross-not to me but maybe for others....this got me and Ty started into a convo about me becoming a butcher!) OK I lied, this isn't my pic but it basically looks like this!

Next chop your onion and throw it in the crock pot with the green beans.  Top the veggies with the lamb. 

Next mix together the tomato paste, tomato sauce and broth in a large bowl.  Stir until well mixed.  Add the paprika.  At this stage I sampled my sauce and found it a bit boring.  So I added some garlic salt and fresh ground pepper.  If I had been making lamb all on it's own I would have seasoned with rosemary, but that didn't seem like a good idea with the tomato sauce.

Pour the sauce over the lamb and veggies.  Set your crock pot to low heat and cook for 6-8 hours.  I'm cooking mine for 7 hours because Ty has hockey and needs to eat around 4:30pm.  Cook the egg noodles in the last 20 minutes of the lamb cooking time.  Stir the goulash before serving over hot noodles!

Finished Product

 I'm Linkin' Up To

Photo Scavenger Hunt Sunday

My sis and I made a pact to actually do this on time this week.  Luckily she has already posted hers, which reminded me to do mine!

WISH/DREAM

Even at my advanced age, I still dream about being a ballerina.  While I'm not a ballerina (I DO NOT have that body type) I am a dancer and dance teacher.  I think those two things are more rewarding than the pains of being a professional ballerina.  Still, I would like a tutu!

CLEAN 

Ok don't everyone hate on me at once.  I know I don't have any green cleaners in my cupboard.  But I think that is an interesting juxtaposition-the items we use to clean our living spaces are destroying (in a sense) our larger living space.

CURRENCY

 Everyone has a change jar.  This is mine.  It has some Mexican pesos that live among the US and Canadian money in peace.  It's a good role model for internationl relations.
 

PAIR

I love these Russian nesting dolls  aka matrioshka, matryoshka, babushka doll, stacking dolls.  Mine on the left is actually from Russia.  The one on the right is Ty's that his mum and sister brought back from Ukraine.  His has a bunch of different eastern European (Russia/Ukraine) leaders all stacked inside!

SQUARE

This is my kitchen floor. I don't love it in real life, but I do like this picture!

Cameo Inspired Garbage Can UpCycle

I can't believe I did it.  I went into a thrift store for the first time in years!  Among the things that drive me nuts about thrift stores are the smell of old musty clothes, and WAY too much junk.  I am not patient and have no desire to sift through a bunch of potential junk to find one gem.  But on this occasion I found three gems!  I will show two of them today, and I will leave the other one for a different post.

In my thrift store shopping I was looking for something that resembled a garbage can that I could spruce up for 2 reasons-1). I desperately needed a garbage can for my craft room, and 2). hey!  I could make it and post it on my blog! 
I really love being efficient!

At the store I found this

A gorgeous cameo pin.  Now, don't swoon all at once, it's definitely plastic and it was definitely $1.50-but I don't care.  I loved it and bought it.  I also bought a big metal container, about 1 foot high/deep and maybe a foot wide, not quite.  It was perfect for my garbage can.  I brought my goodies home and started thinking about how I wanted to design my garbage can.  So many options....twigs hot glued around it for a natural look, decoupage high fashion magazine cutouts...I wanted something old, but new.  It was staring me in the face-my new cameo pin!  I would spray paint my can with a silhouette to give it a Victorian feel!!! 

So here goes-my first spray paint project.

I read up a little bit and got to work.  Here is what I started with....

Lovely isn't it?  I believe at one time it was filled with popcorn-ew!  Anywho....I bit the bullet and sanded it, poorly, but sanded it nonetheless..... Then I started my first coat.  I have NEVER worked with spray paint before and kinda assumed that thick gorgeous paint would come streaming out and cover all these teddy bears in Christmas sweaters...... apparently not...

I can see this is gonna take a while....good thing I have the day off!

While it's drying I got crackin on my cameo silhouette!  Here's how it turned out!

I used my handy dandy Fiskars finger scissor thingy because of the curves and the detail.  It was the perfect little scrap tool doing double duty!

OK, time for the second coat.

There is hope!  It's looking better already!

I did a good three coasts to ensure that the Christmas teddies were obliterated.

Then I taped on my stencil-I realized that I was not going to get a perfect outline-spray paint is not suited for detail, especially with a stencil.  Trying my best to get as much detail as possible I ended up with spray painted finger nails.  Oh well?!?!

I'm getting giddy.  I'm not sure if it's from the spray paint fumes or that one of my ideas is actually turning into (beautiful) reality!  After taking the stencil off I saw a bit of a disfigured girl.  No sweat-I would touch it up with acrylic paint.  I was planning to paint a filigree frame around the silhouette anyways!  This could have been a meltdown moment, but I was prepared for a not-perfect stencil design!

A little black acrylic paint will take care of those boo boos!

So I fixed up the boo boos and added a little gold filigree framing in acrylic paint on the right and left sides of the silhouette.  Drum roll please......

Needless to say I am hooked on spray paint.  I've also learned, drop an extra couple bucks for the higher quality paint.  I bought crummy black paint and Krylon ivory paint.  The Krylon was gorgeous, thick and covered really great!  My next project (also from the thrift store) will definitely be a spray paint project!

I'm Linking Up To

BBQing to the Bitter End

Yes, I am a BBQ-er.  I am the offspring of one "BBQ Dude" aka my Dad, who traditionally barbecued fillet on Christmas Eve in Saskatchewan.  Even if it was -30 degrees Celsius and he had to shovel his way out to the BBQ on our deck!  So even though it's a little chilly to eat outside, or light enough, I am still bbq-ing!  And tonight I made one of my favourites-BBQ Salmon!

What You'll Need
1 Boneless, Skinless salmon fillet
     I get mine at Costco
    Cut it into 2-3 portions-use 1 piece at a time
1 grilling plank
     also available at Costco
     They come in a variety of wood types
     tonight I re-used my cedar plank
4 TBL. Brown sugar
1 TSP Chili powder
1.5 TSP Garlic salt
.5 TSP Fresh Ground pepper

Thaw the salmon (if frozen).  In order to prevent flare ups, soak the grilling plank for as long as possible before grilling.  Tonight I only soaked mine for about 2 hours and that was sufficient.  If it is a new plank and I hope to re use it (yes, you can re-use grilling planks) I would try to soak it all day.

Place the salmon on the plank.  In a small bowl mix brown sugar, chili powder, garlic salt, and fresh ground pepper.  Just in case taste your rub before you put it on the fish.  Lick you finger, stick it in the rub and then lick that yummy seasoning off.  This will tell you if you need more, less, what flavour stands out the most etc etc.  Once you've adjusted the rub to the correct balance, rub over both sides of the salmon.  Since salmon is a flavourful fish it can handle more seasoning than other fishes!  Don't be stingy. 



Rub A Dub Dub!



Mostly brown sugar! mmmmm-this is great for BBQ chicken too!

That's about it for prep work!  Wasn't that easy?  Now pop the grilling plank on your pre-heated grill.  Keep heat at about medium or 400 degree Fahrenheit.  20 minutes for completely thawed salmon is a good amount of time.  I like my salmon two ways-either 100% raw sashimi style, or 100% cooked. 
There is NO in between. 
 

grill baby grill

 This salmon is great with almost anything.  Corn on the cob, pasta salad, rice pilaf, grilled asparagus....anything.  Tonight I made Knock Off Olive Garden green salad!  If you have never purchased the Olive Garden Italian salad dressing you must!  It's faboosh!  Tonight I used a pre-packaged lettuce mix (from Costco-addicted, clearly).  Then I tossed in extra veggies I had on hand including sliced mushrooms, sliced carrots, black olives, peperoncini, and croutons.  I would have preferred tomatoes and red onions with the black olives, peperoncini and croutons (to make a truly authentic Olive Garden knock off) but whatever.  Then I tossed with Olive Garden's Italian dressing *swoon*  If you hate salad buy this dressing, it will make you eat salad!

That's dinner!  Super fast and super delish! 

You really can't go wrong with this one-no matter what time of year you make it!

Linking Up To....

Name My Blog

I created my blog 2 years ago (yikes) and didn't really keep up with it-as much as the title might have tried to make me.  Life seemed to get in the way-I'm sure many people in blogland feel/have felt the same way.  I had originally created my blog to discuss things that drove me crazy-I have a long list of pet peeves, not signaling in traffic is up there near the top.  So I wrote about SYTYCD, about Obama becoming President, and about Michael Jackson's death-things that deeply affected me but made me more angry as I wrote. 

Then earlier this summer my sister, that envirocrafty one Jill, sent me her blog for me to look at.  I was in awe.  My little sister has always been bright-we joke that she is the brains (she is) and I am the beauty.  In truth we are both blessed with those qualities!  A little sibling rivalry sprung up in me upon seeing her blog, especially with her custom made header and buttons and all that stuff my blog didn't have.  So I made a goal ( I never do this! to completion) to blog more too.  I felt (still feel) that blogging would bring us closer together.  My sister and I are only two years apart in age and she and I have always been close, particularly through our older teenage years!  Now that I live 1700 km (that's 1042 miles) away and my family has scattered apart, I wanted to find something that could unite us again.  Even today during our legnthy text convo she wrote "I'm glad you're crafty again".  That really touched my heart.  I am very grateful to Jill and her lovely blog Envirocraftiness, which if you haven't gone to, check it out.  She's eco friendly and super crafty.  You'll especially love her homemade beauty treatments.  They really are great!

But now, enough with the mushy stuff (I can't help it, I'm mushy) and onto the CONTEST.  YES you heard right!  I'm having a contest!  In my not so recent post where I decided to overhaul the content of my blog I made three goals;

1). Get 25 Followers By December 31 2010 
      YIKES! Not even close....but I have a plan

2).Get a button "I've been featured on...."
Ok, I haven't made a button yet BUT I have learned how to get other people's buttons for blogs where I've been featured.  That's a step right?  Check out my side bar to see what and where I've been featured! 


3). Have a contest called "Name That Blog"
DING DING DING!  That's the next goal I'm going to accomplish-BUT I'm gonna need your help!  How?  Well I will be taking suggestions from people on what my blog should be called (based on some info below).  No randoms though!  I will only 'accept' names from peeps that follow me (see how goal #1 & #3 work together-so sneaky!)  So become a follower and drop me a suggestion for my blog name. 

CONTEST CLOSES FRIDAY OCTOBER 29th 2010

 
*Also if you become a follower of my blog, let my sister know (leave her a comment) and you'll be entered twice to win the WHTW prize!  It's just awesome sauce!

What's in it for you?  Well bragging rights to start, plus I'll throw in a really awesome cookbook called "Tutus & Tarts" which features recipes from famous dancers!  Believe me, you are gonna want this cookbook.  It's one of a kind!

So to get you thinking here is some information about me to help in your bloggy brainstorming;

How would people describe you?

Funny

Creative

Productively Messy

Efficient

Friendly

What are some of your values and virtues?

Honesty

Everyday Glamour

Simplicity

Loyalty

No one would ever call you....

Boring

Greedy

Clean

Favourite Phrases

Faboosh!

Awesome Sauce!

I don't believe you.

Again, please!

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down?

Make again? 

Crafts I Currently Create
Scrapbooking
Card Making
Cooking
Hot Glue Projects that are simple
Dance Choreography

Things I want to learn/am interested in
furniture upcylces
sewing projects
home decor

GRAB MY "NAME MY BLOG" CONTEST BUTTON!