The Versatile Blogger Award

I had just read my e-mails and was going to my dashboard to see what amazing posts everyone had shared today when I saw that Ashley of Keeping Up With the Jones awarded me

What an honor!  You can see Ashley's post here so you can learn a bit about her.  Her blog contains a little bit of everything:  recipes, crafts, furniture updates and more.  You should check her out!  Ashley, thank you so much for following along with my crazy adventures and for awarding me this honor.  You have made my day!

There are a few rules that come with this award.  

They are:

1. Thank the person that gave you the award in a blog post.

2. Include a link to their blog in your post.

3. Pass the award on to 15 bloggers you follow.

4. Include 7 random things about yourself in your post.

5. Notify your nominees by leaving a comment on their blog.

I would like to give The Versatile Blogger Award to:

Anne of Domesblissity

Kari of Newlyweds on a Budget

Lindsay of Artsy Fartsy Mama

Laura of Small Good Hearth

Anna from Directions Not Included

Jenna of Two Oh Two Seven

Rachel of Adventures of DIY Mom

Jill of I Know the Plans I Have for You

Betsy of Romance On A Dime

Karah of The Space Between

Jill of Two Yellow Birds

Terry of These Peas Taste Funny

Jenny of The NY Melrose Family

Jen of Four Marrs One Venus

Kathryn of Destination Craft

7 things you might like to know about me.

1.  I studied at the Ohio State University which is where I met my husband. I was a student secretary (while pursuing my undergraduate degree) and he was a graduate student in the nuclear engineering department (yes, my lovable nerd!)

2.  I am the youngest of three children and I have three children!  (Does this mean that each of my kids will one day have 3 children so I will have 9 grandchildren?)

3.  My first car was a 1986 Nissan Sentra (red is my favorite color).  It also had grey interior....should I say, "Go Buckeyes!"?

4.  My husband and I purchased our house in 1989 and we still live in that same home.  We are finally starting to remodel it...we have been busy raising kids and building his business so the house had to wait.

5.  I played the clarinet for 9 years in school (4th grade - 12 grade).

6.  We had square dancing at our wedding reception!

7.  My mother made my wedding cake, my bridesmaids dresses, and all the flower arrangements.  She is where I get my crafty side from

Ashley, thanks again for the award.  

4you

Homemade Linen spray

What's your favorite season?  Mine is definitely spring.  I used to think it was due to three main things:  the return of sunlight, the return of color (green grass, buds, etc), and the return of warmer weather.  However, I realized today that another item is the return of wonderful scents:  rain and freshly mowed grass are the two biggies.

Yes, yummy smells are one of my loves.  The smells of nature are wonderful but I also love a good candle, diffuser, or potpourri.  I once came upon a wonderful sale and purchased some aromatherapy pillow mist.  

These lovely indulgences are often times horribly expensive.  For example, at Crabtree and Evelyn, Lavender Linen Spray costs $18 for 10.1 fluid ounces!  You can make your own for so much less.  Here's how.

Homemade Linen Spray

Ingredients:

Spray bottle (I picked one up at Dollar Tree)

1/4 cup unflavored vodka (vodka acts as a disinfectant)

3 cups distilled water

1 tsp of lavender essential oil (or whatever scent you select)*

Directions:

Place all ingredients in your spray bottle.  Shake before use. 

Note:

I have never tried this but if you have a favorite scent from Bath and Body Works, you could probably substitute their "Home Fragrance Oil" for the essential oil.

Twenty-six fluid ounces of your own linen spray for around $1!  At this price, everyone should be be pampering themselves! 

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Cheese Gone Wild

I've noticed that the majority of blog posts show you how to do something.  Projects are a wonderful success and seem easy and straightforward.  So, when my son was home on spring break, we decided to make some fresh mozzarella and I was going to take pictures of us making this batch for my post last Saturday.  Things did not go as planned...but that's okay!  This post is to remind you that "failures" are really successes in disguise.

You learned in Saturday's post that taking the leftover whey from your mozzarella batch can be heated to 200 degrees F and then you can make ricotta.  Also, the post stressed using non-chlorinated water.  Well, in our haste to make some mozzarella for picture taking purposes, we (a) used tap water and (b) we tried to hurry the mozzarella process along and accidentally boiled our initial milk/citric acid/rennet/water mix.  No mozzarella for us!  Failure...no!  I wasn't going to waste a gallon of milk!

Our pot was filled with tiny curds and the whey never turned clear.  We scooped  out as much of the curds as we could and tried to make mozzarella drying out the curds in the microwave so that we could stretch it.  We didn't get mozzarella.  Instead, well got amazing dry ricotta that would work well on a pizza!

We poured about a quart and a half of the whey into jars and put it in the refrigerator.  We decided to leave the remaining whey in the pot overnight and see what we would have in the morning. Look...lots of curds!

We we got a strainer/scoop and scooped out the curds!

We took these curds and placed them in a paper towel lined colander (sitting in a large bowl to catch the whey).  We let this drain until the cheese obtained the "dryness" we were looking for.

 Our failed mozzarella resulted in 10.5 ounces of dry ricotta for pizza (on the left) and 16.5 ounces of a wetter ricotta for lasagna (on the right).  I also had a little over a half gallon of whey for baking.

So when making dairy products, keep an open mind!  Oops do not have to be disappointments....they may be a new twist on how to do something!

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Link Parties - Tutorials

Don't you just love link parties?  I know I do. It's great having a venue to post some of your projects to share with others.  It's especially nice when you are a new blogger and don't have a large following.

I know I didn't even know what a linky party or "buttons" were when I first started blogging.  I think it took me 3 months to figure this out (I can be pretty slow sometimes).  When my brain finally caught up with the rest of the blogging world (okay, I'm not caught up but I'm not quite as far behind), I loved seeing all the creativity out there along with being able to share my ideas with a larger group.

Most of these parties request that you link back to them.  Even if they don't require it, it's just good etiquette to do so.  To see the parties that I have linked to look at the footer of my blog.  I don't link up to all of them every week because I wouldn't have time to do anything else.  This is also because I always find a minimum of 3 linked projects that I just HAVE to check out, pin, comment on.

I would like to give one party a specific shout out, though.  It 's Tutorial Tuesdays from Newlyweds on a Budget.  What I LOVE about this party is every link is to a tutorial!  I get inspiration from seeing people's "end results" and then tackling how I will incorporate this type of project into my home.  But, there are times when I like someone to walk me step by step through a project.  That's what you will find at this link party.

So be sure to check out Kari's party along with all the other's.  I think you will find so much inspiration you won't know where to start!

4you

Tag...I'm It Again!

This game of tag has been going around in blog land and I'm it again.  I was tagged by two amazing bloggers:  Connie of Hot Flashn Craftn and Jill of I Know The Plans I Have For You.  Connie has a great sense of humore along with wonderful projects that she shares. Jill is a creative dynamo (she's in the finals of American Crafter).  You should check out both of their blogs if you haven't already.

I apologize to these two amazing ladies because I am late in playing along.  They both tagged me a week or two ago and with trying to get my taxes done along with my two oldest being home, I just didn't get around to playing along. Anyway, this amazing way is a great way to get to know fellow bloggers a bit better.

Here are the rules of this little blogging game:

1. You must post the rules!

2. Answer the 11 questions the tagger posted for you and then create 11 new questions to ask the people you've tagged.

3. Tag 11 bloggers and link them in your post.

4. Let them know you've tagged them.

I am going to do these things in a different order.  I would like to tag my 11 bloggers first.  I have chosen to tag bloggers who leave great comments but have a smaller following  (it was hard to choose because I have more than 11 I would have liked to tag).  I'd like everyone to get a chance to meet these incredible ladies. Here you go.

1.  Kate from A Creative Cookie
2.  Claire from A Little Something in the Meantime
3.  Rebekah from Accidentally Wonderful
4.  Kari from Big Plans Little Victories
5.  Jill from Create Craft Love
6.  Julie from White Lights on Wednesday
7.  Liz from Center of Attention Deficit Disorder
8.  Kate from Crafty Kate
9.  Jamie from Three Scoops of Love
10.  Britt from Third Times A Charm
11.  Pam from The Best Laid Plans

Here are their 11 questions.

1.  What was your favorite childhood toy?
2.  How many children were in your family and what is your birth order?
3.  If you are married or seeing someone seriously, how did you meet them and what attracted you to them?
4.  What do you do when you are not blogging?
5.  Do  you  do any volunteering and if so what/where?
6.  What is your favorite activity that you blog about (cooking, sewing, knitting, painting, remodeling, etc)?
7.  What is your favorite childhood memory?
8.  Who is your (fantasy) dream guy?
9.  What is the "creating/crafting" skill your mom/grandmother taught you and you always think of them whenever you make something with this medium?
10.  Where do you see your blog 12 months from today?
11.  Who is your idol?

Here are the 11 questions from Connie:

1. How long did it take you to get your blog up and running smoothly?  Smooth is a relative term.  However, I began to feel more confident after about 3 months of blogging.

2. What's your favorite herb, why, and do you make with it?  Basil. and Pesto.

3. What's your best home remedy?  Garlic.  Whenever anyone is coming down with an ailment, I prepare a soup with a lot of garlic and everyone gets better quickly!

4. How do you get your whites, their whitest?  I add a bit of bluing to my whites

5. What's your last minute, homemade dinner?  Hashbrown garbage (hash browns with whatever I can find to add in..meats, veggies, nuts, cheese)

6. What's your advise on growing your blog?  Just blog from your heart and take the time to leave good comments to those you visit.   Just be yourself and be honest.

7. What's your favorite place you've visited and why?  It was just walking around downtown with my dog...I was able just to enjoy the beauty of the day.

8. Winter, spring, summer or fall? Which is your favorite season, and why?  Spring...I love how everything is basically reborn in spring.  I also LOVE the smell of rain!

9. Who inspires you, most?  My daughter.  She is the improved version of me...the person I have always strived to be.

10. Where would a new blogger go or if you are a new blogger, where would you go, when you need help with setting up your PAGES if they want them different then blogger template offers?  Good question.  I don't know where to go but I would ask other bloggers for advice.  Perhaps put a post up asking for people to comment with ideas.

11. In the summer, what is your favorite family activity?  Spending a weekend at one of the state parks

Here are the 11 questions from Jill

1.  What is your favorite meal? Cheese ravioli with a green salad on the side.

2.  You can only listen to {3} albums for the rest of your life, what would they be & why? I love greatest hits albums because they hit on all you favorites.  This being said, I would want the Beatles Greatest hits volume 1 (I love their early hits), Ace of Base's Greatest Hits (I especially love "Beautiful Life"), and finally the soundtrack of Grease (the music is so fun and uplifting)

3.  What is your favorite item in your closet? It's actually my shoes.  I think shoes really  make an outfit!

4.  When is the last time you cried? Two weeks ago when I watched "The Notebook"

5.  What is your favorite tv show of all time? It's a tie...between Big Bang Theory and Law and Order

6.  What is your favorite movie? West Side Story

7.  What would your dream vacation destination be? St. Thomas (it was my honeymoon destination and both my husband and I were sick so I'd love to go back when we are both healthy)

8.  Describe your personality in three words  Optimistic, Impatient, Bubbily

9.  What is the one make-up item you absolutely have to have on your face every day? Mascara

10.  Dream dinner party guest list! (Three people, living or dead) Eleanor Roosevelt, Valerie Bertinelli, and Betty White

11.  Why did you start blogging? To share my ideas, connect with other bloggers, and to create a place to store all my ideas...kind of like a filing cabinet on a cloud.

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Blog Planners

I have been looking at all the amazing blogs I follow and it seems as though the best ones are ones that follow a plan.  They have organization and structure to not only the blog itself but with what is posted and when.  I decided I need to become more organized with my blog as well.  To help me, I searched the web for various blog planners.  A free printable was very important to me.  Here is what I found.

From Random Acts of Amy

From Fake It Til Ya Make It

From Create As Folk

From The Taylor House

From Mommy Words

From Infarrantly Creative

From Oh The Lovely Things

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From Living Locurto

From White Lights On Wednesday

All of these sites have some great ideas.  I just need to adjust one for myself.  What works for you?

4you

English Muffin Inspired Bread

I've been sharing with you a lot of recipes for fresh cheeses.  They each create some yummy cheese but then there's the leftover whey.  When I make mozzarella (see how here) and have boiled the whey to make ricotta, my whey is still warm....perfect for making a yeast bread! Here is an easy recipe that only requires your dough to rise once!  It has holes like English muffins and it is poorer...great for toasting!

English Muffin Inspired Bread

Ingredients:

3 packages (or 3 Tbsp) yeast

7-8 cups of flour (2 can be whole wheat)

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp salt

3 cups warm whey (or water)

Directions:

Mix yeast, 4 cups flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.  Pour warm whey (water) over dry ingredients and mix well for 2 minutes.  Gradually add more flour, kneading until your dough is smooth and elastic (should no longer be sticky).  This will take 10 minutes or so.  Divide into 3 equal pieces and place each in a greased loaf pan.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for 30 - 40 minutes or until doubled in size (my oven has a warm setting so turn my oven on warm and place my pans in there to rise).  When doubled, gently remove the plastic wrap and bake your bread in a 350 degree F oven for 30-40 minutes.

4you

Making Your Own Dairy Products #5 - Mozzarella (and Ricotta)!

My two oldest kids have been home on spring break this week and we've had a ball.  (This is why I've missed posting a couple of days).  During this break, my older son and I had fun making some homemade mozzarella (and ricotta from the leftover whey)....and then my family had a wonderful "make your own pizza" night using our homemade cheeses.  Why don't you give it a try.  It's easy!  Here's what we did.

Homemade Mozzarella

Ingredients

1 gallon fresh milk 

(NOT ultra-pasturized...lightly pasturized is best and local if possible.  I used whole milk)

Citric Acid (found in the canning supplies...this makes your cheese stretchy)

Rennet Tablets (found with the pudding in your grocery...makes the curds set)

1/2 cup of non-chlorinated water (bottled water works just fine)

Equipment

Large non-reactive pot 

Measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Slotted spoon

Strainer

Microwavable bowl

Thermometer (I use a candy thermometer but a digital one is preferred)

Instructions

Pour 1/4 cup of cool non-chlorinated water into 2 different vessels (I used 2 different measuring cups).  In one place 2 level teaspoons of citric acid.  In the other place 1/2 rennet tablet.

The rennet tables are scored so it's easy to divide it in half.

Back to the cheese.  Pour your gallon of milk in a large pot.  Place your thermometer in your pot and heat until the temperature reaches 50 Degreees F.

Now pour in your water/citric acid solution and stir to mix.  Continue heating the milk until it reaches 90 Degrees F.  Now pour in your water/rennet mix and stir very minimally (about 5 or 6 stirs).

 

DO NOT STIR your milk anymore!  Continue to heat your milk until the temperature reaches 105 Degrees F.  Now turn off the heat and let your milk sit 2 hours or so (there is no harm if it is a bit longer). After this time, your milk is actually become cheese curd(s).  Take a long knife and cut through the your curds in a grid fashion.

 

It looks like cubes of curds floating in whey.  Now with a slotted spoon scoop out the curds and place them in a colander or strainer.

Now with your hand and your slotted spoon try to press out as much whey as possible.

Now place your curds in a microwavable bowl and place in your microwave and heat on high 30 seconds.  Moving quickly, squeeze your curds and drain off the whey.  Repeat this a second time.  Now, before you return this to your microwave for a third heating, add some salt or some spices if you prefer (remember, we have not added any salt before now).

I regret I did not take any pictures now because our hands were filthy and we were just busy with squeezing the cheese.  Anyway, you will continue to heat your cheese for 30 seconds  in the microwave followed by squeezing/draining the excess whey.  You will do this for about 3 or 4 more times.  Once your cheese begins to hold together, you want to squeeze it and begin to stretch it.  If it gets cold or no longer stretches, return it to the microwave for another 30 seconds.  

Your cheese will become smooth, and shiny (with the firmness being determined by how much whey was squeezed out).

Doesn't it look delicious?  Either use it immediately our store it, covered in water, in your refrigerator for up to a week.

But wait, there's more!

Homemade Ricotta From the Leftover Whey

You will find you have a LOT of whey leftover.  Place it back in your large pot and heat until the whey reaches 200 degrees F.  Turn off the heat.  Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the curds and let them drain in a paper towel lined strainer.

Once your have scooped out all of the curds, let them drain until your ricotta has reached your desired dryness.   Here's ours.

Our mozzarella/ricotta recipes made 1 pound of mozzarella and 1 cup of ricotta.  (Keep in mind these amounts will vary each time you make your cheese based on how much fat/protein is in your milk).  We had a lot of whey left over.  The whey can be used in so many wonderful recipes.  I will share an English Muffin type bread that I used with our whey from this week with you tomorrow!

4you

This Weather Is Amazing - Get Ready to Garden

The weather we have been having this winter (and now spring) has been so unusual.  We had very little snow and very little truly cold weather here in Ohio.  Now we've been having spring for a couple of weeks with summer-type temperatures this past week.  The grass is green and needs mowing, my lilac bushes are budding, a friend even saw a couple of snakes the other day!

Here's my dilemma.  Ever since we've been in our house, I've followed the rule that I put my garden in on Mother's Day.  By the second Sunday in May, the risk of frosts and freezes that could kill seedlings is pretty low.  Should I go a head a prepare my garden now, almost 7 weeks ahead of schedule?  Will there be a huge freeze or frost that will kill off my garden?  While I decide what to do, I thought I'd share some cool gardening/outdoor projects that have caught my eye.

35 Pest and Disease Control Ideas

Potato Tower

Growing Better Tomatoes

Succulent Chandelier

How to Grow Potatoes in 4 Square Feet

When to Sow and Transplant Seedlings

How to Plan Your Vegetable and Herb Garden

How to Store Seeds

DIY Pallet Vertical Garden

How to Make a Hanging Gutter Garden

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How To Decoupage Terra Cotta Pots with Fabric

When I was a little girl, my older sister was really into mod podge and decoupaging.  She made me a beautiful wooden purse which she painted, decoupaged pictures, lined with felt, and added a handle.  I LOVED that purse.  Like so many things of the 70s, (like crazy bell bottom pants returning as stylish flares), decoupage  has gone from folksy to classy.

I've been so inspired by all the projects made from mod podge on pinterest.  It inspired me to decoupage a desk (see it here).  Okay, so I have done a modern piece with paper but I've been seeing people decoupage with fabric.  I really wanted to try this out.  Here's my first project.

My inspiration for this project came from, you guessed it, pinterest.  It is a project by Christine Chitnis (you can find her insructions here).  This is the picture I saw that made me say, "this is going to be my first fabric decoupage project).

Reading Christine's instructions, she cut her fabric in a large piece and I felt that I would find her technique cumbersome (and I don't do well with frustration when I'm doing a brand new technique). So, here's what I did.

How to Decoupage a Terra Cotta Pot with Fabric

This technique works with fabric that has a small all over print.  The first thing is to cut your fabric into 1 inch wide stripes 3-4 inches longer than the height of your pot.  Using a foam brush, paint Mod Podge onto your pot in a stripe wider than your fabric strip.

Lay your fabric strip over the Mod Podged area with 1-2 inches of fabric extending over both the top and bottom edges of your pot. Gently smooth out any air bubbles (your fabric does not adhere like paper....it will shift so use a gentle hand)

Moving around the pot, paint on more Mod Podge medium.  Then add your second strip so that it is about 3/4" away from the first strip at the top of your pot and you will see that it will then be much closer to the first strip at the bottom of your pot.

Repeat this process around your pot.

Before you continue your second time around to fill in your spaces, you want to adhere the strips on the bottom and the inside of the top of your pot.  Before you paint Mod Podge on the bottom of your pot to adhere these ends, cut them down, if necessary, so that they lay flat (see next picture).

 Continue a second time around so that your pot is covered entirely.

You will need to let your pot dry between coats of Mod Podge  (I put on 3 top coats to get a relatively smooth finish).  To keep your Mod Podge bottle from gluing shut, place a piece of plastic wrap on top of your bottle before putting your lid on.

Also, as with many decoupaged projects, it is recommended that you apply a coat of acrylic sealer. I used Polycrylic by Minwax.

Here you have the finished product!  With the small all over print, the strips are not noticeable.

4you

Save Money, Get Inspired, Stay Healthy, Improve Your Blog

I don't know about you but I love visiting other blogs to get motivated on improving my home and my life.  There are so many incredibly wonderful and talented people in the blogging world.  It seems that most of us in the diy/crafting/cooking blogging world face 4 main challenges: (1) Saving Money, (2) Finding Inspiration, (3) Staying Healthy, and (4) Creating a Wonderful Blog.  Here are 4 blogs I follow that host wonderful series that will help you find success in these 4 areas.

How to Save Money

Kari from Newlyweds On A Budget hosts "Financial Series".  You will find updates on Thursdays each week.  Kari is working on helping each of us keep more green in our pockets.

Getting Weekly Crafting/DIY Inspiration From Unlikely Products

Kim from Too Much Time On My Hands hosts "Main Ingredient Mondays".  Each Monday, Kim focuses on one item (say yogurt cups) and find 20 inspirational projects which feature this item.  

Staying Healthy, Fit, and Strong

Betsy of Romance On A Dime hosts "50 Habits of Thin People".  This series is posted on Fridays and Betsy shares wonderful ideas from food to exercising and more.

How to Build the Best Blog You Can

Melissa of Serendipity and Spice hosts "New Blogger Series".  She has posted all sorts of wonderful ideas and resources for the new blogger.  These posts do not appear on a specific day of the week but she does have a page dedicated to this series.

Be sure to check these series out.  You'll find so much wonderful information in past posts.  I know I can't wait to see what they will each be posting in the future!

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