Great craft Website

I was looking for glass taper candle holders last year to make cake stands and found a great craft web site...save-on-crafts.com.  If you are ever looking for something specific for decorating or entertaining they seem to have it.  I've got my eye on these darling wreaths for my house...

I've always loved square wreaths!  I may just have to make the purchase soon!

Also for our Utah County friends...Hobby Lobby is now open!  Located where the Smiths in American Fork used to be.  Typically you can print a 40 percent off coupon from their web site...I went on today and it was changed to something more specific.  Either way, there's a coupon to print off here.

Happy spring! 

Mom's Rolls

My mom's rolls are so delicious and easy to make.  I'm giving out the tricks so they'll turn out fluffy and light for you! 

First, here's the list of ingredients:

3c milk

1 cube butter

3/4 c sugar

3 eggs

3 t salt

2T yeast dissolved in 1c warm water

9 cups of flour

 Dissolve 2T yeast in 1c warm water.  Sprinkle a little bit of sugar on top and stir to wet yeast.  Let sit for 10 mins.  Yeast should double in size.  Meanwhile, scald 1/2 of milk with the cube of butter. (Scalding means melt the butter and bring mixture to almost boiling).  In mixing bowl (I have the Blendtec Mix n blend, and I love it!), mix rest of milk, salt, sugar, and eggs.  Add scalded milk and 3 cups of flour. Add yeast mixture and mix well.  Put in dough hook and add 5-6 more cups of flour.  After you've added a total of 8 1/2 cups of flour, test the dough by touching it with your finger.  If dough sticks to your finger, you need more flour.  Add 1/2 cup at a time and then touch dough again.  It should barely stick to your finger, and not be goopy.   Cover dough in bowl and let rise to top of bowl.  This takes about 1 hr.  Once it reaches the top of the bowl, flour counter surface and dump dough onto surface.  Roll out to 3/4 of an inch thickness.

Using a circle cutter or a glass, cut out rolls.  Melt 1/2 stick of butter.  Pat roll on hand to remove excess flour, stretch into 5 inch rectangle, smear with butter, fold over and place on greased cookie sheet. 

Let rolls raise til double on cookie sheet then bake at 400 degrees for 10-13 mins til golden brown.   From start to finish, these rolls take about 2 hours.  If you want to make them ahead of time, just place rolls in fridge.  Get them out 1 hour prior to baking to allow to raise and double in size, then bake.  My mom got this recipe from a family friend thirty-five years ago, and we've had them every Sunday since.  Hope your family enjoys them as much as we do!

Home Tours- The Blaisdells

My dear friend Jamie has a darling house as she is one talented lady.  She can make anything, and turn second-hand finds into gems!

 This is a wall treatment she found at Target.  She put it on the wall in her guest bath, and I love it!  The wall color is a mix of grey/blue/green and ties in well with all of the silver, black, and white accents.

Love this dresser and accents.  The birds look great on the big chunky candlesticks from Simply Splendid in Pleasant Grove.  Remember, you can get cheap birds at Down East Home.  Also, I love how she mixed so many different materials ie: silver candlesticks, clear lamp, and ornamental frames.  She found the frames at DI.  She spray painted them silver, then painted the rim with black acrylic paint.

Jamie made all of the pillows on her bed.  I'm going to be calling her for DIY step by step instructions for a future post!

Her little girl's room is darling!  She did beadboard on the top of the wall at plate rail height and painted below.  The iron dressform she picked up from Rod Works and is a great feature in the room.  I also love how she displayed two of Brighty's dresses on glass knobs on either side.

Her little boy is named Boston and has a room to fit his name.

I love the use of the toddler size furniture in the room, as well as the awesome built-in shelves for display.

These three frames are perfect for any boy's room.

In her playroom, Jamie channeled her inner artist.  She projected the images on the wall, traced, and then painted them as shown.  Her favorite place is Disneyland, and now she has a little piece of it in her home.

Thanks Jamie for the great inspiration!

Tissue Paper Balls

Tissue paper balls are super easy to make for any room decoration, baby shower, etc.  Choose your color and purchase two packages of tissue paper.  The ones with 8 or 9 sheets per package work best.

Lay the tissue paper out on the cupboard and make sure edges are even.  If you want to make a large ball, leave the size as it appears.  For a smaller ball, cut off 3-4 inches from one of the ends.

Begin folding a 1 1/2 inch accordian fold, using a ruler to crease the edge.

Continue the accordian fold, creasing the edge each time.

Once you have the entire piece folded, take thin gauge floral wire and secure around the middle of the paper.

Fold in half, and cut the excess wire.

Attach your ribbon to the floral wire, with the knot of the ribbon on the top edge.

Trim the flat ends in a point.  You'll have to cut a few of the the points at a time.

Fan out one of the accordian folds.

Carefully, begin to peel each layer of tissue paper back towards you.

Continue with each subsequent paper until you've pulled half of the sheets toward you; flip it around and do the other half the same way.

Once you've completed one side of the ball, lay it on the table, fan out the other end and repeat just as you did above.

Here is the finished product.  Continue to fluff the paper to hide the ribbon and get the spacing you want.

These are darling decorations for any girl's room.  I made two of different colors and shapes for my niece's bedroom that I decorated last year for Christmas.

They add a dramatic accent to the room and great dimension.  Hope this tutorial helps you create your own!

The Perfect St. Patrick's Day Dinner

My mother-in-law started a tradition that I've been involved in for the last 12 years.  Each St. Patrick's Day, we get together as a family for a great meal, with a twist.  A leprechaun comes and leaves money in the food!  Here's last year's celebration at our home.

We serve meat loaf, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and cabbage.  For dessert, we have pistachio pudding pies.  Money is placed inside all of the food, so it's a real treat seeing how much each person goes away with.  Here's how to start the tradition with your family.  Disinfect coinage ($1, quarters, dimes, nickels, etc) by placing in bleach water.  Then wrap in tin foil.  Place your meat loaf in pan to bake and then insert wrapped coinage throughout the meat.  Bake.  As for the mashed potatoes, mash regularly and then stir in wrapped coinage prior to serving.  Do the same with the pudding pies.  Place a bowl of coinage for those who take helpings of vegetables.  Your kids will be more than happy to eat their broccoli or cabbage to be monetarily rewarded.  Once your guests know to look out for money hidden in the food, they will eat carefully!  This is one of our favorite meals each year and hope it will be a fun tradition in your family as well! 

St. Patrick's Day Decor

This last week, I headed up to TaiPan and to Rod Works for additional St. Patty's Day decorations.  At TaiPan, I found the darling ceramic jars with "Lucky" printed on it for $2.97.  The green picks were $1.97 as were the green glass jar, flower pick, and small signs.  The large sign was $11.97 at Rod Works.  I had the green balls from last year, so I just repurposed them for this table decor.

I found these great leaf picks for $4.99 each.  I thought they would make a great substitution for a wreath.  I wrapped each one of the stems with green satin ribbon, hot gluing as I went.  Then I simply tied the two together with the same green satin ribbon and with a great stripe ribbon.  Rod Works has great ribbon selection for cheap prices.  I love how it turned out.  I love the height and the various colors of green.  Don't be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to creating in your house.  Rod Works has 50% off all St. Patrick's Day decor, while TaiPan has it on for at least 25% off. Top of the morning to all!

Homemade French Bread

So I know you can buy a loaf of french bread for super cheap...but sometimes homemade bread just sounds so much better!  I'm also one to avoid having to drag my kids into the grocery store at all costs...especially to get one thing!  So if I have the ingredients and a little extra time before dinner it's worth it to make this bread!  Thanks Raelene for sharing the recipe!

French Bread

2 tablespoons yeast (2 packets)

3 cups warm water

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspooon salt

1/2 cup oil

6 1/2 cups flour, divided

Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water and set aside.  Mix 2 cups warm water, sugar, salt and oil.  Stir until well mixed.  Add 3 cups flour then add yeast mixture and stir well.  Add 3 1/2 cups more flour and mix well.  Dough will be sticky.  Let rise 1 hour, beat down every 10 minutes.  Divide dough in half.  Roll out on floured surface.  Roll up into a bread loaf, tucking ends under.  Place on greased cookie sheet.  Slightly slice tops diagonally.  Let rise on cookie sheet another 30 minutes.  Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.  Brush top with melted butter.  Yields 2 large loaves.