New Paint in Kitchen & Master Bath

     My husband and I had recently been discussing painting our kitchen and master bathroom walls. Although, we also discussed the rest of the home (and we will get to it), these rooms were where we wanted to start. Our kitchen walls were sheet-rock with printed, multicolored fruits and vegetables all over; our master bath was printed, multicolored flowers. We did not really like that.
     Low and behold, last week a very good friend of ours dropped by with 10+ gallons of interior paint and asked if we wanted it. (Of course we did!) It is all perfectly good paint, that was left over from cleaning up/remodeling rentals.  The owners wanted to clear out their storage and asked our friend to haul it off. He told them he knew someone that would take it, with their permission. The owners agreed. Win - Win situation!  We now have enough paint for every room in our home and 10+ gallons of paint saved from the landfill.
     Our project last weekend, of course, was to paint our kitchen and master bathroom. It also led to some minor crafty redecoration, which we will show in an upcoming video:  Our Resourceful Projects: Re-purposed, Re-used, Re-cycled - Pt 1. We couldn't be happier with the outcome: no more printed walls that nothing matches and the only cost we have in these projects is for a paint pan and roller.

     Kitchen

 Master Bath

     We are now deciding what this weekends project will be. Can't wait to get started!

HugMyMug - aka Joppa Mountain Pottery

Beautiful and functional hand made pottery from East Tennessee. If you are not already in love with pottery, you may soon be. We have several pieces from this studio and treasure them! We use them daily (you may even see some of them in our videos), as they are very sturdy. Ranging from kitchen wares to decorations, you are bound to find something you fall in love with.
They are amazing artists and great people! If you have ideas on a custom piece, just contact them, they're very easy to work with.

You can find their etsy store here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/HugMyMug

You can find more information about their studio, the artists and photos of other items (past and present) by visiting them:
on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/joppamountainpottery
or their website: http://joppa.homeip.net/Joppa/

REFASHIONED 2XXL SHIRT TO SMALL TANK TOP

This shirt was originally given to my daughter and it was way too big for her, not to mention she really didn’t like the print.  I, on the other hand, loved the print and decided to see if I could alter it to fit me. Although I love to sew and do several sewing projects, I rarely do clothes unless it is a refashion. I thought this would turn out to be a challenge considering the shirt started as a size 2XXL and I wear a size small. It turned out to be much easier than I anticipated and I love the resulting tank top. So, I will try to explain my process.

I first cut the sleeves off and tried it on inside out to try to mark where I needed to bring in the seams. My original thinking was that I would only have to alter the side seams and hem the sleeves.

I quickly realized the neck and shoulder lines would be way out of place. The only solution I could think of was to turn it into a sleeveless tank top.

Leaving the shirt inside out I laid it out flat,  took one of my tank tops that fit me well and used it as a pattern to mark the larger shirt down the sides and across the shoulders. (I would recommend a marker, chalk or pencil made for fabric, but in a pinch you can use what you have on hand, just keep it small so it will be easy to hide with the stitches.) With a little maneuvering I was able to bring the shoulders down and the v neck up while still being able to line up the main neckline.  I cut ¼’ outside those lines and then pinned along those lines down the sides and across the shoulders, leaving out the arm and neck openings. When I stitched this on my sewing machine I stitched onto the pattern marks that I’d made. Then I turned in the edges along the arm openings and hemmed them.

 

 

This was my resulting tank top. I love it and still wear it. Although it started as a long sleeved fall shirt, it's made from a cotton, t-shirt type material and is very cool and comfortable.

 

I did this refashion project about a year ago, before we decided to do diy videos and blogs. Because of this I do not have many photos of the project, so I tried to fill in the gaps. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

 

Sweet Pickles

This is a recipe that my sister-in-law and I came up with years ago after several trial and error attempts at making sweet pickles from others' recipes. When our families won't eat them, that's bad! They love pickles. So, we decided to experiment and this recipe was the final result.....instant "hit" with every slice of pickle eaten!
When we did this the first time, we really didn't have much hope....we were about to give up. We didn't want to use all of our best pickling cucumbers just in case in went bad again. So, you know the big cucumbers that most of us would refuse to pickle? Well, that's what we used that first time, with fantastic results.
This is not a "quick" pickle, it takes 4 weeks total....but, so worth the wait. Hope you give it a try! Leave us a comment and let us know how it went if you do.
Thanks for stopping by!

Sweet Pickles

 

Wash and pack whole cucumbers in a 1 gallon container (that can handle boiling liquids). Set aside for now.

 

In large saucepan mix:

 

4 cups vinegar

4 tbs pickling spice

4 tbs salt

2 tbs alum

 

Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and pour over cucumbers. If this does not completely cover the cucumbers, finish filling with water.   Place lid on pickle container and store in cool, dark place for 2 weeks.

 

After 2 weeks, strain brine from cucumbers and discard. Slice the cucumbers into prepared jars.

 

Mix separately and Well:

4 cups sugar

6 tbs water

Pour this mixture over sliced cucumbers in jars. Put in water bath canner for 30 mins to seal. When sealed and cooled, store in cool place for 2 weeks. 

 

After those 2 weeks, open and enjoy!

Pickled Beets (Sweet)

It may seem a bit odd that I am posting a beet canning recipe this time of year. It’s just May right? Nowhere near harvest season. Well, I have some store bought canned beets that we will never eat in that form. So, I have decided to take the syrup recipe from these directions and re-can those beets. I’ve never tried this before, so I’m not sure if it will work. If it does work, I’ve turned something my family will not eat into something they will. If it doesn’t work, I’ve lost very little. I think it’s worth a try.

This recipe was passed to me by my dear aunt Karen, who upon hearing that I “hated” beets convinced me to try one of hers. It was love at first bite! Now, many years later, I have witnessed that same reaction in family and friends when they’ve said the same thing to me and I convinced them to try mine. Only one person every said to me that they still didn’t like them. Most asked for a jar to take home and/or the recipe.

These beets are fairly easy, although they do take a bit of time cleaning and preparing. This recipe is easily adjusted to the amount of beets you wish to work with at a time. I’ve done anywhere from 1 canner run at a time to 4 bushels (that took a while) but, I always break it down into manageable amounts. The amount of sweetness is also easily adjusted, (more about that in the directions).

INGREDIENTS:

Beets

Sugar

White Vinegar

Water

The amount needed for each is determined by how many beets you want to work with at a time.

DIRECTIONS: 

First: Cut all but 1 inch off of leaves and stems of beets (yes, this will leave 1 inch of leaf and stem on the beet) and Do Not cut the root, at all (cutting causes the beet to “bleed” too much curing boiling). Scrub clean. Place appropriate size pan ~ one that will hold the beets, covered with water and room to boil. Once they have reached a boil, continue boiling until the largest of the beets are easy to stick a fork into, but not too soft (time varies depending on size of beets). Once they reach this stage, strain them and let cool until they are cool enough for you to handle. Slip off stems, skin and roots and pack into prepared jars in whatever form you prefer: whole, sliced, diced, halved. Leave a ¼ in headspace in jar. Set aside.

Second: Bring to boil and continue to boil for 15 minutes:

Equal amounts sugar and white vinegar and half of the amount of water. 

For Example: 1 cup sugar, 1 cup vinegar, ½ cup water. You can start with this mix and adjust to your taste: want them less sweet? Remove some of the sugar and/or add more vinegar.  You can also adjust the water if the “syrup” is too thick or strong for your taste.

Third: Once you’ve boiled your “syrup” for 15 minutes, pour over beets in jars leaving ½ in headspace. Try to remove any air bubbles by running a butter knife or chopstick, etc around in the jar. Wipe rims of jars clean and cap. Process these in water bath (canning method) for 30 minutes. Remove from water bath and place where they can sit undisturbed until they are completely cooled.