DIY : Valentine's Day countdown

This cutie helped me make a Valentine's Day Countdown!  Was some great mother/son time!

All you need is some scrap lumber, heart template, and a couple of 2-3 inch round tree cut, dried tree branch pieces.

First, you want to cut the tree branch pieces.  I made ours about 1 inch thick.  You will need 14 of them!

Then, I spray painted half of them pink and half of them purple.  It took a couple of coats.

While I was painting, He traced our template onto a piece of 3/4 inch plywood.

I then cut it out.

I had him use the file and clean up all the edges.

Then we spray painted it red.

The frame stand I made was out of thicker board of pallet wood.  

I used a drill bit then to put holes in the painted wood circles and then placed them around the heart.

The holes were bigger than my nail heads, so I hammered them in while they were placed around the heart.

After that was done, I attached the heart to my stand.

I then painted the numbers on the hearts and the verse on the heart.  Then I sprayed each one of them with some clear coat.

Blessings!!

Where you will find me linked at.

Homemade applesauce

Look at all those apples!!!  Yummy!!  

These are my Fuji apples I got from Azure Standard.

I will only use Fuji or Gala apples to make my applesauce.  Why?  Well, to my family, they are the best tasting apples!!  I don't even have to add sugar!

This year I made my applesauce without peeling my apples.  Best decision EVER!!!!!!

All I did was core them.  Then I put them in the food processor.  I dumped the processed apples in a stockpot and heated them up.  I also added cinnamon to taste during this step.

I then went about packing them in quart jars and putting them in the oven on warm.  I did not put the lids and bands on them.

Here they hung out until I was ready to can.  I did all of my apples this way (18 quarts in all)!  Then I heated my water to boiling after I washed it.  I processed my jars for 25 minutes in a hot water bath.

So yummy and not near as much headache as peeling all those apples!!

Blessings!!

Where you will find me linked at.

DIY Advent Christmas Tree

This year I decided to get a little bit creative with our advent.  I seen a couple of things online that I liked, so I decided to mix it up and make the best of it!

First thing was to cut a star out of a 1x6 with my jig saw.

Next was to use my miter saw and cut some of out firewood down.  Mine ended up being about 3/4 of an inch thick.

For the back of the tree, I used an old 2x4 that I didn't need.  Then, I cut pallet wood down for the tree shape.  I then used wood glue and nailed them to the 2x4.

I used a piece of a pallet to add the the bottom of the 2x4 to help with stability of the tree.

Looking good!!

I painted half of the wood pieces green and the other half red.

While they were drying, I added screws on the my tree to which the ornaments would hang.

After I painted the numbers on the wooden pieces, I spray painted them with a clear coat on both sides.  My hope in doing this is that they will not be dried out with our wood burner.

I painted a '25' on the star and nailed it on.  Then, I used black string and attached it to each wooden piece and hung them on the tree.  I put my numbers started at the bottom and working our way to the top so that the star would be on Christmas Day.

Blessings!!

Where you will find me linked at.

Homemade Pancake mix

My kids love pancakes!  I have always hated making them, just for the fact that I only make a batch at a time.  Well, after a little it of work, I finally have the perfect recipe to make a bulk batch of pancake mix.  

Whole Wheat Pancake Mix

Ingredients:

8 cups flour

1/2 c sugar

3 T baking powder

1.5 T of baking soda

2 t salt

Mix all ingredients together and store.  This will make enough for a half gallon mason jar and 1 batch of pancakes.

Grinding the flour for the mix.

Adding our ingredients.

Stirring.

Pouring in our storage container.

To make one batch of pancakes you need:

2 c pancake mix

1-1/2 c milk

1 egg

2 T oil.

Stir together and cook.

If you want to do 1 serving of pancakes, you need:

2/3 c pancake mix

1/2 c milk

1 small egg

2 t oil

Here is a link to the printable recipe.

Homemade maple syrup!

Yummy airplane pancakes for his birthday!!

Blessings!!

Where you will find me linked at.

How to make a paper mache volcano

    For this project you will need:

               an old pop bottle

               a sturdy piece of cardboard

               some masking tape

               newspaper cut into strips

               paper mache:  (1 part flour to 1 part water)

               some paint

1st you are going to want to use the masking tape to attach your pop bottle to the cardboard.

Then, wad up some newspaper to add to the bulkiness of the volcano.  Again, use the masking tape to hold the newspapers in place.

You will want to leave the cap on the bottle.  NOT tight, just basically sit it on top!  Then add some flat sheets of newpaper

Now start using your strips of newspaper and your paper mache to finish your volcano.

Let it dry for at least 24 hours.

Next, paint your volcano!

Use a knife to cut the top off to get to the bottle.

You are now ready for exploding your volcano!!  Outside of course!!

First, put warm water down into the bottle.  I used a funnel to avoid making a mess.  I then put some dish soap in it and about 2 T of baking soda.

Add the vinegar and quickly take away the funnel!

As long as the mice don't eat yours as they did ours, you will be able to this time and time again!!

Blessings!!


Where you will find me linked at.