The return of my ETSY store.

Yeah so I finally paid etsy that twenty cents I owed them and listed a some pretty sweet stuff so check it out.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/raisedbymormons

Paper Christmas Ornaments

Merry Everybody!!!  It's right around the corner and so here is a Christmas project.

And here is a crazy person standing next to a VERY flocked tree

This is a very easy to make paper ornament that I just love.  The one I made is medium in size because my tree is pretty small but you can scale it up or down to fit your needs.

Materials (for one 3" ornament)
10"X 10" sheet of Christmas wrapping paper
One 3" diameter drinking glass
A pencil
Scissors
White Glue
Tooth Picks
Stapler
Ribbon

Instructions
1- Using the drinking glass as a template make 9 paper circles.  You can make a few at a time by folding the paper and cutting them out together.  I'm not fussy about things being perfect so I did that.

2- Attach your nine circles into a "book" by stapling them down the center.
(Option B- if you've got a sewing machine is to sew them down the center using a very large straight stitch.)

3- Attach 6.5" or so of ribbon at one end with a staple. (If sewing attach with machine)

4- Starting where you've attached the ribbon put a bead of glue along the top third of the first page smoothing the glue evenly with a toothpick.  If the circle were a clock you'd want to glue 1 o'clock and 2 o'clock to 10 and 11 o'clock folding at the 12 o'clock position, then on the next page you'll alternate and glue 4 and 5 to 7 and 8 folding at 6 o'clock.  Alternating top and bottom you'll continue doing this until you've done all the pages.  When you do the last page it will open up to be an accordion sphere.

It should look something like this

5- Tie the ribbon in a knot, hang from your tree and enjoy.  I'm serious!!  You better be enjoying this!!!  If I hear that you're not enjoying it....I'll...well....I don't know what.  But it won't be festive! 

HAVE FUN

Thanksgiving. Late. Don't judge, the holidays are stressful!! Setting a table.

This is a turkey cupcake I made for my guests.

Ah Thanksgiving!!!  Recipes, Crafts, Setting a Table.  All Great things.

I'm crazy thankful for thanksgiving.  I don't know about y'all but I needed to be reminded to be grateful.  It's been a rough year but really I have so so so so much and a little gratitude check up is a great way to remember that.

So to help with your next holiday dinner or just that fancy, grown-up, super classy dinner party you're planning here is some instruction and advice on how to set a table.

Let's start with plates, the center of everything. Plates should be evenly spaced and about 2ft apart from the middle of the plate to the middle of the next plate. This will give everyone enough elbow room. Once the plates are set you can build everything else around them. Drink glasses should be to the right of the plate and bread plates to the left.

A good trick for remembering this is to take both your hands in front of you.  Make a circle with your thumb and first finger with the the other fingers straight behind them.  In this view your left hand will appear to be a lower-case b, for bread, and the right a lower-case d, for drink.

Silverware should be placed in order of use from the outside in with handles lined-up at the bottom.  That means salad forks and soup spoons on the outside, dinner fork and knife (with the cutting edge facing the place) on the inside.  Forks on the bread side, knife and spoons on the drink side.  (Two exceptions are a small seafood/cocktail fork,  that should be placed at the far right of the setting.  The other exception is the butter knife, that should be placed on or next to the bread plate.)  

Some like to have the napkin to the left side of the plate with the forks on it.  I prefer if the napkin is on the plate.  That way when people sit they don't have to disturb the setting to get to their napkins.  

There are a lot of great videos on how to fold napkins here is a link to a great one that's easy to follow

 http://youtu.be/Aw6SoAJeu-o

So there you have it.  Easy as 1, 2, 3............4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.  Have a great one.  

Next up....Paper Christmas Tree Ornaments.

My First Video Blog!! "Ladies Pinch. Whores wear Rouge." Not really. But it's a funny title anyway.

It's an oldie but a goodie. This little beauty tip is easy and free so you really have nothing to lose except that non-rosie pallor.

My Triumphant Return with a Recently Perfected Hummus Recipe!!!

Goodness Gracious me!!! Has beeeeeen so long? I will not try to defend my in-defensible absence from my own blog. I will only say that my life got a bit out of hand and in order to get my house, well..in order I took a break from my extracurriculars. I am sorry and have missed you ever so much.

This recipe is so insanely easy and yet has been tricky to get it right. I'm glad to say that I think I'm got the sucker down.

Ingredients:
1 15oz can Garbonzo Beans with juice(AKA Chickpeas)
1 Med Clove Garlic
1 6.5 oz Jar Greek Kalamata Olives, drained(this is the weight drained)(The one I buy is from Trader Joe's. It's in red wine vinegar brine)

Instructions:
Put the ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Done. (If you want to mince the garlic you can or if you put it into the blender first it will kinda mince itself) You can add spices to taste. I wouldn't recommend salt, the olives are pretty salty already.

This makes about 3 cups of hummus and is 160 calories per 1/2 cup. One thing I like to do is label the item with a sticky note. Stickers don't unstick well enough and it's not like the container is going to have hummus in it forever.

Hope you like it. I sure do.

Picture Frame Earring and Necklace Display.

Hello again. Today we are going to talk about something very important, accessorizing. Or, the lack of it. I don’t know about you but for me out of sight is out of mind. At least that is how it was for my jewelry. Which is probably why I would wear the same two pairs of earrings everyday (they were the ones that were always out on the night stand from the night before) My solution was to get the other pairs out there and seen so they could at least have a shot at the regular rotation.

Sorry the pictures are so small and crummy. My camera was stolen and I have yet to get the money together to purchase a new one. Right now I'm using my phone-camera.

Bonus it’s also a way of decorating an otherwise blank wall.

What you’ll need:

A picture frame (The size will depend on how many pairs of earrings you'll need to hang. The one pictured is 13.5x10.5 and works great for me.)
Wire mesh (Whatever you like at the hardware store just make sure that the holes are large enough for the earrings to hang in and it’s stiff enough to hold the earrings up.
Furniture tacks (regular tacks can be used but furniture tack have a longer post and work better. Plus they aren’t very expensive at the hardware store.)
Wire cutters
Finnish nails
A hammer
A tape-measure or ruler

For earring display:
1. Turn frame over and measure the mesh so it fits exactly where the glass would go in the frame. (That way when it’s hanging on the wall there will be room between the mesh and the wall for the earring posts to go.) You can use a tape-measure or just eyeball it.
2. Use the wire cutters to cut the mesh to size.
3. Place the mesh in the frame and use the small finnish nails to nail it into place.

Optional necklace hooks:
1. On the bottom-front of the frame measure where you want to hooks to go. To keep the left and right sides balanced start from the outside and work you way inward toward the center of the frame spacing the tacks apx. 1 to 1.5 inches apart.

And that, as they say, is that. Pretty simple.

FUNERAL POTATOS!!!!!!!!!!

Last night I had a little dinner party with some very close friends. I got to share with them piece of my cultural heritage. A dish I have dreams about. Funeral potatoes (also known as "Party-potatoes" which in my opinion is blasphemy. I will call them nothing but funeral potatoes until the day I die and then my ghost will watch my family eat them with the joy that only comes from comfort-food at a time of grief.) But I digress, my real point is that they are (forgive me mom) Fucking delicious!!! And in this edition I will teach you to make them to the delight of all you share it with.

Now, there are about as many recipes for this dish as there are cooks to make it. I will give you a base line and also my own variation. Experiment with these. Find your own way of making them.

Recipe 1-

Ingredients:
2lb bag of frozen potatoes/freezer hashbrowns. (You can also make your own potatoes by baking them half way and dicing them up. I don't do this for the simple reason that it's a pain. It's like store-bought pie crust, why make your own?)
2 cans cream of something soup (any cream of something will do)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 16oz tub of sour cream
2 cups cornflakes (or Ritz crackers, or just more shredded cheese)

Instructions:
Mix Butter, Sour Cream, Cheese and Soup. Then mix in Potatos. Spread in cake-pan or casserole dish. Crumble cornflakes and sprinkle over-top. Cook at 350 for 45 minutes. Easy as that.

Julie's Recipe-

Almost all the ingredients are the same but I leave out the butter, use frozen tater tots, prefer cream of potato soup and insist on cornflakes as topping.

Cooking is the same.

Enjoy.