Archive | crafts & DIY

Fresh Herbs & Compound Butter

May 11, 2013

Spring is here and my herb garden is coming back to life. With this extra sunshine we’ve been having, they’ve perked up and grew a little taller and fuller. Here I have put together a little sampling of herbs displayed on a cake stand and wrapped a few in parchment paper attached with custom tags {found here} using double sided tape. It’s always wonderful to share with others what you grow in the garden.

{Free Printable Garden Tags, click here}

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Fresh herbs in cooking is by far the best choice {see Compound Butter recipe below}. My four favorite herb plants I use again and again from my garden are Italian parsley, basil, lavender and mint {not shown in the picture}. Another reason for growing herbs is for decorating. Instead of fresh flowers, add a pretty green bouquet of parsley next to the kitchen sink, mint in the bathroom or silver sage displayed in simple containers down the center of the table. Herbs are hardy plants and easy to care for. Give it a try if you have never grown them.

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Herb Lemon Compound Butter

Ingredients

8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 Tbs. chopped fresh chives
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste. Scoop it all onto the plastic wrap or divide the mixture in half {about 4 Tablespoons each}. Roll the plastic wrap around it to form a cylinder then twist the ends closed. Then wrap it in parchment paper, twist the two ends and tie the ends with twine. Refrigerate until the butter is firm {about 2 hours} or put in the freezer to be used at a later date.

* Butter mixed with other ingredients {herb & spices, vanilla, honey, nuts, garlic, olives, sundried tomatoes, etc…} is known as compound butter. It adds flavor to seafood, meat, bread and vegetables.

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posted by: Kay 9

9 comments

Citrus-Herb Seasoning Salt

April 13, 2013

From spring into summer I have the citrus seasoning salt sitting right next to my salt and pepper on the kitchen counter. A hand reach away for when I need to add it to what’s cooking.

Citrus-Herb Seasoning Salt

3/4 cup coarse salt (Coarse Kosher Salt)
2 Tablespoons lemon zest
4 teaspoons dried rosemary
3 teaspoons dried thyme
3 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Store in an airtight container, up to 3 months. Makes 1 Cup

Ideas & Uses

○ sprinkle on chicken, pork or fish before baking/cooking
○ add to balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil dipping sauce for bread
○ sprinkle over popcorn, pasta, cream cheese dip & garlic bread

recipe source: Martha Stewart Everyday Food Magazine, December 2011

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This packaging idea came about because I needed a quick way to package the salt seasoning mix as gifts and I didn’t have lids for the jelly jars. They turned out cute so I wanted to share it.

Materials

small glass containers (jelly jars-3) ⎪ plastic wrap ⎪ double sided tape ⎪ twine ⎪ scissors (decorative scissors-optional) ⎪ labels (see below to print free labels)

Directions

1. Fill the glass container(s) to the desired amount.

2. Seal the top opening with 2 layers of plastic wrap and trim off excess leaving about 3/4-1 inch along the sides of the container.

3. Wrap twine 2 – 3 times around the container to secure the plastic wrap edges (clear tape will work too or do both).

4. Print, cut and attach the label to the top of the container with the double sided tape (see image above).

{click here to print labels}

Come back and tell us how you used the citrus-herb seasoning salt.

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posted by: Kay 3

3 comments

Paper Bird’s Nest {diy}

March 23, 2013

The inspiration for this project came from Fiskars, diy nest holder. I decided to use a regular brown lunch bag because of it’s lighter weight as compared to kraft paper or cardstock.

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Step 1 Supplies: a brown paper bag (makes 2 nests), scissors, glue stick and Jelly Belly

Step 2 Cut the bag as close to the bottom of the bag as possible.

Step 3 Cut 2 – 10 inch circles from the top part of the bag and 2 – 2 1/2 inch circles from the bottom of the bag. (the circles do not need to be perfect just a rough estimate)

Step 4 & 5 Take one of the two large circles and start at the outer edge with a pair of scissors, cut in a spiral to the center.

Step 6 Use your hand and crumple the cut spiral circle.

Step 7 Starting from the center, dab a little bit of glue on the paper towards the bottom edge and start wrapping the paper around itself. Repeat the two steps, dab glue every few inches to prevent the paper from unraveling and to secure the nest.

Step 8 Apply glue to the top of a small 2 1/2 inch circle and place it under the nest and press firmly.

Step 9 Add Jelly Belly to the center of the nest.

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{Easter/Spring table setting for kids}

posted by: Kay 13

13 comments

Easter egg gift tags & cards

March 16, 2013

I have admired vintage egg prints for years and collected a few for my home. Eggs are simple yet there is such a variety in colors and sizes out in nature. These egg and botanical images used to create tags and cards came from the Vintage Printable website. Go and check the website out, they have a wonderful collection of free images to copy or download.

Make sure to reinforce the punched out holes to prevent from ripping. I applied basic office supply white rectangle sticker tabs over the area before punching out the hole. Here are a few places to find hole reinforcements {Amazon} {Etsy}.

Gift cards are easy to attach to packages and bags or as place cards at the table.

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Free gift cards and tags to print for Easter.
Follow the instructions below the images.

Gift Cards
{click here to print cards PAGE 1}
{click here to print cards PAGE 2 }

Gift Tags
{click here to print tags}

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Happy Easter!

He is RISEN

MATTHEW 28:6

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posted by: Kay 5

5 comments

Moss

March 9, 2013

This was one of those unexpected days that I didn’t plan on being outside, but welcomed it. The DAYS (months) have been cloudy, damp and rainy for TOO long. The sun came out from behind the blanket of gray clouds, it was a good opportunity to check out the garden and around the yard. My mind started to think of all the possibilities as to what I should do out in the sunshine. As you can see, I planted moss in these pretty little pots. Moss have taken over the yard, literally in the lawn, trees, rocks and on the house.

This is what one of the apple trees looked like covered in moss. I will scrape some off and use it in the pots.

A few gardening supplies, but I will not be needing all of them.

Almost done and a few more pots to go.

They turned out great. It took me about an hour to complete the project.

My son Caleb and I decided to gather a few things to decorate around these pots. I snipped off branches from the apple tree with tiny buds just starting to immerge. Then added fresh eggs from the chicken coop and wooden white birds.

They are now ready to be taken inside the house set as the center piece of the table. To keep them fresh and green, make sure to water them well and not let the soil get dry. Squirt / mist the top of the moss with water once a day (maybe more) will also help.

Supplies for this project are available at most gardening stores such as Home Depot & Lowe’s. The two types of moss, Irish & Scotch are the most common ones available. Sometimes the pot the moss came in could easily be slipped into a decorative pot without having to transplant it or make a mess.

Click the Links Below for More Ideas & Supplies

1. Sunset Magazine, moss boxes 2. Mark Kintzel Design, diy~serene green garden container 3. Martha stewart, diy~Irish moss centerpiece (and video) 4. Potted, mossed piecrust pots 5. Paxton Gate, terracotta moss pot 6. Campo DE’ Fiori, aged azalea pots

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posted by: Kay 4

4 comments

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Archive | crafts & DIY

{Free Printable Garden Tags, click here}

Herb Lemon Compound Butter

Ingredients

Directions

* Butter mixed with other ingredients {herb & spices, vanilla, honey, nuts, garlic, olives, sundried tomatoes, etc…} is known as compound butter. It adds flavor to seafood, meat, bread and vegetables.

From spring into summer I have the citrus seasoning salt sitting right next to my salt and pepper on the kitchen counter. A hand reach away for when I need to add it to what’s cooking.

Citrus-Herb Seasoning Salt

Ideas & Uses

recipe source: Martha Stewart Everyday Food Magazine, December 2011

This packaging idea came about because I needed a quick way to package the salt seasoning mix as gifts and I didn’t have lids for the jelly jars. They turned out cute so I wanted to share it.

Materials

Directions

MATTHEW 28:6