Paper Butterflies

               This is an easy Springtime craft that only requires paper and stencil, scissors and glue.
Sewing machine and grapevine wreath is optional.

Supplies

Paper: 

Scrapbook paper, old sheet music, old newspaper or magazines (find the colors you like). 

Butterfly stencil

Scissors

Glue

Grapevine Wreath

Use a stencil to create  a variety of butterflies.  You can use a scrapbooking paper punch if you have one; It is more consistent in its cutting perfection and is quicker to use, but the stencil has a variety of butterflies, which is nice.

 Draw your butterflies on the backside of the paper

 I used scrapbooking paper, but you could use any paper that had a pattern;

old sheet music, newspaper, magazine old books.

  Cut out all of your butterflies.

 Pick out and match up butterfly shapes

Glue them together. (wrong sides together)

 I like matching up two colors, then you have a different color on each side.

Press both pieces together, smoothing all sides and edges.  Allow to dry.

You may have edges that don't match. Once the glue is dried, Trim the white off of the areas that don't match.  Bend the butterfly wings like a real butterfly.

 You can run them through a sewing machine to create a banner.

I sewed them in every direction to create a hodgepodge of shapes and directions as they hang.

 You can also glue them onto a grapevine wreath.

To create a soft and pretty springtime decoration for your door.

Happy Springtime

                                                               


                                                           

Mock French Onion Soup

This Onion Soup has an extra surprise in it that you wouldn't expect.  The Surprise is Cabbage.  My husband Steve made this soup a few weeks back, and it was marvelous, I just kept eating it.  He got it from  Phoenix Home and Garden Magazine under the humble name of "Savory Cabbage Soup".  Now, I don't know about you, but with a name like that, I might never have tried making it myself. I am not attracted to dishes that have the name Cabbage or Beets in them (that's not to say that I don't enjoy dishes that have these vegetables… I have learned to love beets and cabbage, but something about the sound of the recipe when it is named after these veggies… I think it must be remnants of my childhood, when words like beets, and cabbage made me shudder… did any of you ever feel that way?).  So, I decided to rename this soup Mock French Onion Soup, which to me is a bit more appealing.

If you're having a craving for French onion soup, and you are wanting to add some cabbage to your diet... or have an abundance from your garden or because they were too cheap to pass up after St. Patricks Day,  then this recipe is for you. I have put the original recipe here, along with the link if you want to go back to Phoenix Home and Garden Magazine.  I described my own changes, which make it more like it's "new name" implies.

http://www.phgmag.com/food/recipe/201301/savory-cabbage-soup/

SAVORY CABBAGE SOUP

Yields 4-6 servings1/2 cup apple cider
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 small green cabbage, cut in 1-inch dice (about 7 to 10 cups)
3 large onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 cups thinly sliced carrots
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
6 cups beef stock
Salt and pepper to taste


COMBINE apple cider, soy sauce and vinegar in small bowl. Set aside.
HEAT 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in skillet over medium heat. Add cabbage.
COOK 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to bowl.
HEAT remaining 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and carrots. Cover and cook 8 to 10 minutes, or until carrots are softened, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook 16 to 18 minutes more, or until onions are golden brown.
ADD garlic, thyme and apple cider mixture, stirring to scrape up browned bits. Bring to a simmer and cook 1 minute. Add cabbage and 6 cups of beef stock; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, partially cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper, if desired.
GARNISH with Sourdough Croutons.

Here is where I varied the recipe:  I sliced the onions as pictured above, rather than chopped; I saute'ed them until slightly caramelized.   I also chopped the cabbage more like you would for Coleslaw.  I used 1 large   carrot and shredded it with the Cheese grater rather than chopping it.  The last of my variation, was to add more croutons, and top with cheese and brown, just as you would for a French Onion Soup.

Home Made Sour Dough Croutons

These Croutons were amazing and were one of the most important parts of the soup.  I couldn't stop eating them.  Steve and I increased the Parmesan Cheese and olive oil by almost double... I also suggest you make twice as much of this,  because you will nibble these away and wish you had more for the left over soup.

SOURDOUGH CROUTONS
2 cups sourdough bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese


PREHEAT the oven to 350 degrees F.
TOSS bread cubes and oil together on a baking sheet; spread in an even layer and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
BAKE until golden brown (about 15 to 20 minutes).
COOL before serving.

Grate your Parmesan cheese

Cube the sourdough bread, sprinkle the olive oil over it and toss until the oil is well distributed.  Spread out on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with the grated cheese (I even mixed some of the cheese with the bread cubes and olive oil while I was tossing it together).  Bake at 350 degrees 15-20 minutes, or until dry and crunchy.

After your croutons are baked, Put your soup in a nice "oven safe" mug or bowl, sprinkle croutons on top, then top with cheese such as swiss or provolone, and a little more parmesan and bake until the cheese is melted and brown.

And now you have a wonderful "Mock French Onion Soup"

This was great  with some homemade Irish Soda Bread

Here was Steve's Version that he made a few weeks back.  He made it like any good cowboy would... in a Cast Iron skillet and scooped it up with a nice enamelware ladle... and actually the directions suggested cooking in a Dutch Oven (which is probably what caught his eye in the recipe to begin with).

Enjoy!

How to De-Skunk Your Dog; A Remedy that Really Works

Yes, Shorty got Skunked again.

 If any of you live out in the country...  and you have dogs.... and you have skunks, you will more than likely have need of a good de-skunking recipe at one time or another...  

Well, this is a good one.  It is very easy,  and it really works.   I have tried quite a few of them in the past, including the old "Tomato Juice Remedy", none of which work very well.  But this one, this one is amazing. I have used this one on Shorty many times, and I have to say it does the trick... almost 100%.

Scroll to the bottom for the Recipe.

 Do we really have to go through this... I mean I don't really see what the problem is.

 You aren't really gonna do this to me are you?

I can get this stuff off of my face myself.

See?

"Oh Rats!"

" I guess that doesn't feel too bad."

" I like the way you're rubbing under my chin."

 "Yes I know I am a good dog but why did every body get so upset?"

"Can I get out now?"

 "Com'on, give me a little break."

 "Did you say I would get a treat when we're done."

 "Let me think about it."

 "Ya, okay,  that sounds pretty good."

Shorty's Deskunking Recipe

Ingredients:

1 quart of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide

1/4 Cup Baking Soda

2 Teaspoons Liquid Soap

Instructions:

1.  Mix all three ingredients together in a plastic, ceramic, or glass container (apparently metal causes a wrong chemical reaction, so don't use a metal container)

2.   Sponge onto pet, working it into doggies hair thoroughly.  Let set 5 minutes (or more if  it seems necessary).  Be careful to avoid eyes (not an easy task, since most of the time  Peppe L' Pew's missile is aimed, fired and  executed right between the eyes of poor helpless and defenseless "Shorty" type doggies. Okay, helpless and defenseless is probably taking it a little too far... we might need to inquire after the skunk).

3.   Rinse thoroughly with warm water.    

I hope you won't need this recipe, but if you do I am so glad to share it with you.

As an update, I have used this recipe several times…. because well, Shorty gets skunked a lot…. it works every time.  The key is leaving the mixture on your pet for 3-5 minutes; which gives the formula time to work.   

A Little Bit of This and That

I decided I would post a little glimpse of our life this week.   Here is our weather report: We have been getting  snow  every 3 or 4 days.  I keep thinking  perhaps there will be enough to pull us out of this drought this time, and we can get on with spring.  We get 3 or 4 inches each time.  We probably need a couple of good snows of 1 or 2 feet to begin making a dent in the dried up ground.  But this looks pretty doesn't it, and every little bit helps to be sure.  We've been keeping a nice fire burning in the wood stove and making plenty of soup.

Our house.  I love snow pictures don't you?

Shorty got skunked again this week.  She averages 2 a year.  Here she is in the tub; unhappily awaiting her bath.  I have  a good remedy that gets 99% of the skunk smell out.  I will share it next post.

I've been making lots of jewelry for the Etsy shop.

I'm loving the Spring Colors 

I love creating....sometimes I get started  making jewelry or painting a picture, or sewing a project, and it is hard to quit.  But everyone always wants dinner... imagine that.

This is my little work table with all my piles of beads; I clean it up and then out it all comes again; what is up with that?  You can see all my reds (Valentines inspired my reds).

Here's Steve and Shorty... and guess who is driving?

Its Eddie... everyone clear the road.

Love that smile of his.

They are fetching and moving big water tanks (can you see them in the background behind the truck?They tower over the garden shed and the chicken house)

It is part of one of our business projects.  They are driving in R.G.  What is R.G. you say? R.G. is this trucks name.  It is short for  "Rojo Grande" or "Big Red" as we would say in English.  Every truck needs a name... that's our theory anyway.  

Dog's love trucks.

Here's my friend Roxy (livingfromglorytoglory.blogspot.com.

I went over to her house on Saturday to help her sew some drapes for her bedroom.

She's remodeling her bedroom, and making new curtains to go with the new look.

They sure looked pretty once we got them up.  You will have to pop over to her blog for the "before and afters".

Roxy's daughter in law's mother...  (that was a mouthful/fingerful... get it.... I'm typing), cleaned out a lot of her clothes and gave them to Amy.  After Roxy and Amy got to go through them and find plenty of wonderful, goodies,  guess who else got to enjoy the goodies?  You guessed it... yours truly.  I was so blessed by those clothes.  I completely cleaned out my clothes and got rid of a large percent of mine (I sure was tired of looking at mine... some things I had had for a very long time.)  I am giving the left overs and my cleaned out things to some other friends of mine.  I think these clothes have been a little like the loaves and fishes.   There were more bags of clothes left over than I started with.  They just keep multiplying, and  we are all getting a portion.

I was so blessed with the new clothes, that I even color coordinated my closest.  Can you believe that?  I have never done that before, but it seemed like such a good idea when it came into my head, because it will be easy to put things together now.  I won't have to hunt through looking for and trying to find something to go with something else.  

What do you think?  Fun ha?  Look at all the pretty colors.

These are just tanks, t-shirts, turtlenecks and jeans.

Whites, creams, browns, greys, blacks, greens, blues, purples, pinks, reds, maroons, and golds.

Amy tell your Mama she was a real blessing to us all.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.  May you be warm and cozy, with wood fires and good home cooking.  May your Spring come quickly, but your drought be gone for good and may you be blessed in all that you do.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I have been reading a lot about homemade laundry soap in the last couple of years. I wanted to give it a try.  The thought of using ingredients I can pronounce  and being able to control what goes into my laundry soap, greatly appeals to me.  I read quite a few recipes, and read quite a bit about the various ingredients, and what their cleaning role is in laundry soap.  The following is a recipe that I ended up using, and also a few facts about the ingredients.

Grate your soap using a cheese grater.

The Fels Naphta is a dryer soap, and grates finer, resulting in less volume. The Pink Zote soap above is a big, moist bar and grates a larger volume. I used both bars...since I had gotten them both and couldn't choose one or the other. Some people suggested letting your bars of soap dry out for a certain amount of days before grating, to get a finer grated result... some even blended in blender or food processor. I am sure that those are great ideas, but I had no patience to dry out my soap, and got such great pleasure in grating it up with a cheese grater. It looked, felt and smelled beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed myself doing it. I know, I'm a little weird.

Mix the dry ingredients with the grated soap.

Store in a pretty Container. Use a pretty scooper to scoop it up.

Home Made Laundry Detergent

Powder Formula

3 -4 Bars grated soap (Fels Naptha, Castille, Zote or Ivory)
1 Box Washing Soda(3 lb, 7oz ): This not baking soda
1 Box Borax (4 lbs, 12 oz)
1 Box Baking Soda (the larger size... 4 lbs)
Oxy Clean (you can get it inexpensively at the Dollar Store). I put this in separately as needed for heavily stained clothes, or loads... but many people mixed it in with their laundry detergent. Do as you like.


Mix all ingredients Together. I used my biggest mixing bowl... someone suggested mixing it in a trash bag... it sounded like a good idea.

Use 2 Tb per load (I double that, because we have very hard water). Pour soap into washing machine as it is filling (I have found that, although using hot water adds to your costs somewhat, it is best to start with hot water, to dissolve and activate the soap and Borax and is usually best all around in removing dirt and stains.


Here are a few tidbits that I learned when I did a little study and decided to share them with you.


Bar Soap
Fels Naphta: My daughter, Marie was given a bar of this for her first baby shower. I had never heard of it before that (where have I been?). I loved the idea of it, and have since used it. I also love the smell of it. It is a laundry bar soap intended for the pre-treatment of stains by rubbing the dampened product on a soiled area prior to laundering. The manufacturer claims it to be most effective in removing chocolate, baby formula, perspiration, and make-up.

Castile Soap is named so because it originated in the Kingdom of Castilla, a part of the country that we know today as Spain. The name Castilla (or in English, Castile) means land or region of castles. It was a region that was first to use olive oil instead of lard or tallow in their soap making because of their abundant olive trees. The word Castile is now used generically when referring to a vegetable oil based soap. Coconut oil often falls in this category. Incidentally, coconut oil based soap adds a natural softener to the laundry.

Zote Soap is from Mexico and is bar soap as well as a laundry bar soap. I have also seen Zote soap flakes at the grocery store, and have tried them and liked them. It is the least expensive per its size that I have found, and I love the smell of it.

Ivory soap is descriptive of your basic bar of soap with no special additives. Any hard bar soap like it works well.


Washing Soda
Washing Soda is not the same thing as Baking soda, although one of its manufacturers is Arm and Hammer... the makers of Baking soda. They are a slightly different chemical make up and have different functions in the washing machine. Washing soda is a common base ingredient in many laundry soaps and works as a water softener and stain remover.

Borax
Borax is a laundry booster, and works a little like a bleach. Apparently, when combined with hot water, it converts to hydrogen pyroxide.


Baking Soda
Baking soda can be very effective at removing stains formed by age. Because it is a natural cleaner, your older linens can be trusted to be whitened and brightened by its effects. It is also a good odor remover and is good for neutralizing acid based stains, such as vomit and urine.



Vinegar
Vinegar is an acid. It can be used in a clothes washer as a laundry booster / fabric softener / water conditioner . In other words, it is wonderful for removing stains, mildew (I love it for towels that have gotten that mildewy stinky smell... bleach is the only other thing I know to get that out, (and that's not usually the best option), it is also great for breaking down hard water, and leaves your clothes soft (no need for a fabric softener). Don't use it directly on your delicate fabrics, because it is acidic and can be hard on them.

For cleaning and deodorizing laundry: I usually use 2-3 cups added to the laundry before the detergent, to pre-soak a stinky dirty load.  Use a pre-soak cycle, or soak as long as you feel necessary, then  drain and wash as usual.


For Fabric Softener: Add about 1/2 to 1 cup to your final rinse for a fabric softener and freshener. That is what I use depending on the load size. I have seen every variation of suggested use, I know that so much of it depends on the hardness of your water, and the size of your load. Experiment.


Powder or Liquid? Hot, warm or cold? Agitation, soak or rinse? Chemistry? Do you have hard water or soft; these are all questions to consider; so here are a few tips that might give you an answer:

1. Vinegar together with Baking Soda will neutralize each other. so consider the timing of what you are using For example: if you are soaking something in Baking Soda, its best to hold off on the vinegar until the rinse load; if you are soaking something in vinegar, do it first, drain, and then add your soap (if it has baking soda) afterwards
2. Increase the temperature of the wash water. Grease and oil based grime don’t come out as easily in cold water.
3. Put your soap in first, it will distribute and disolve better this way.
4. Put less clothes in the wash so they agitate/tumble better.
5. Use more detergent for hard water, and less for soft.
6. Soak the load before you run it.
7. Liquid detergent is more easily dissolved and evenly distributed in cold water washes.

Happy Laundering Everyone!